New York, Feb 10, 2026, 17:08 ET — Trading in the after-hours session.
The Charles Schwab Corp (SCHW.N) shares slipped roughly 7.5% to $99.25 late Tuesday, after dipping as low as $97.03 earlier in the session. That’s a drop of about $8 compared with the last close.
Shares of U.S. brokerages and wealth managers slid after Altruist introduced AI-powered tax-planning tools, fueling fresh worries that automation might take over some advisory roles. “Looks like it could potentially disrupt some of the retail brokerages,” said Dennis Dick, chief market strategist at Stock Trader Network. 1
Altruist says its Hazel platform now sports a feature that scans U.S. 1040s, pay stubs, and assorted client docs, churning out custom tax strategies in just minutes. Founder and CEO Jason Wenk described tax planning as “slow and mentally draining” during crunch time, arguing the new tool “raises the bar on outcomes.” The company maintains it follows zero-data-retention policies and keeps customer data out of AI model training. 2
WealthManagement.com says Hazel’s tax planning tool now offers interactive “what-if” modeling and isn’t limited to firms that custody with Altruist—Hazel is also being sold separately at $60 per seat each month. “Soon thereafter, you have this interactive dashboard,” Hazel’s product manager Gokul Ramanathan said, explaining how advisers could quickly turn documents into a client-ready plan following a call. 3
Some of the other brokerages tracked the slide. LPL Financial dropped roughly 8.2%, Raymond James lost 8.8%, and Morgan Stanley shed 2.5%. The Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF was also off, down about 0.8%.
Schwab operates a sizable retail brokerage and banking business. Its advisor-services division handles custody and trading for independent registered investment advisers, or RIAs. Custody is essentially the back-end—client assets are housed there, trades process through it—even if the adviser maintains control of the client relationship. 4
Schwab flagged a pickup in retail activity just a day ago. The Schwab Trading Activity Index climbed to 49.96 in January, up from 48.48 in December. Clients stepped in as net buyers of stocks, according to the company. “Schwab clients returned as net buyers of stocks in January,” said Joe Mazzola, Schwab’s head trading and derivatives strategist. 5
U.S. stocks ended the session mixed, with the S&P 500 slipping 0.33% Tuesday. Investors digested flat retail sales numbers and looked ahead to Wednesday’s delayed nonfarm payrolls report, per Reuters. 6
Initial moves aren’t always the last word. Major brokers can roll out similar features fast, and compliance checks put brakes on how much AI can actually do with real client data. Even a polished model ends up needing a human to review what it spits out.
Schwab investors have their eyes on the firm’s January monthly activity report, set for release before the market opens on Feb. 13. That’s the next event on the radar after Tuesday’s abrupt AI-fueled swing in the stock. 7
