New York, Feb 14, 2026, 18:41 EST — The market has closed.
- Ares Capital finished Friday off 0.5%, closing at $19.37.
- With U.S. markets closed on Monday, the week shortens and focus shifts back to rate headlines.
- Next up: Fed minutes, plus new U.S. inflation and growth numbers—those are the near-term catalysts traders are watching.
Ares Capital Corporation ended Friday down 0.5%, settling at $19.37. The stock moved between $19.15 and $19.57 through the session.
With Presidents Day landing Monday, U.S. stock markets go dark and investors are left with just four days to adjust their portfolios this week.
The rate outlook keeps circling back for ARCC, a business development company, or BDC. Since these lenders hold floating-rate loans tied to benchmarks, any move from the Fed can ripple through dividend projections in a hurry.
Following an inflation report, Treasury yields slipped Friday as the 10-year yield dropped to 4.05%, down from 4.11% at Thursday’s close, Investopedia said.
The Dow edged up 0.1% while the Nasdaq slipped 0.2%, according to a summary from Yahoo Finance.
Ares Capital earlier this month announced a $0.48 first-quarter dividend per share, set for payment on March 31 to shareholders on record as of March 13. For the fourth quarter, core earnings—which the company relies on as its key non-GAAP profit metric supporting the dividend—came in at $0.50 per share. Net asset value landed at $19.94 as of December 31, 2025. Loans on non-accrual status accounted for 1.2% of investments at fair value. CEO Kort Schnabel noted ARCC “maintained strong credit performance with stable non-accruals.” In January, Ares closed a $750 million notes deal and opted to extend its $1 billion share buyback plan through 2027. SEC
The stock wrapped up Friday roughly 3% under its most recent NAV, a figure income investors often eye as a signal for possible buyback activity—and as a quick check on how the market’s judging those portfolio valuations.
Still, the dynamic isn’t one-sided. Quicker rate cuts squeeze interest earnings from floating-rate loans; on the other hand, an economic slowdown drags more borrowers into distress, pushing up non-accruals and triggering write-downs across portfolios.
Elsewhere in the sector, investors are weighing yield versus credit risk in names like Main Street Capital and FS KKR Capital—the same tension hangs over these peers.
Macro’s up next. Wednesday brings the Fed minutes, and then Friday delivers both the core PCE inflation number—the Fed’s go-to metric—and the first look at fourth-quarter GDP, per an S&P Global Market Intelligence week-ahead preview.
