NEW YORK, Feb 17, 2026, 19:11 EST — Trading after the bell.
The Charles Schwab Corporation (SCHW) slipped roughly 0.6% after hours on Tuesday, settling at $93.08. Volume hit around 11.2 million shares for the session, with the price moving between $92.30 and $94.44.
Why it matters now: Schwab tends to react when rate expectations shift, and traders are glued to the coming Fed update. The Federal Reserve drops minutes from its late-January meeting this Wednesday—a release often capable of shifting bets on both the pace and timing of cuts. 1
Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee said there could be “several more” rate cuts this year, provided inflation settles back on course. He pointed to services inflation as “not tamed” yet. “If…we can show that we’re on path to 2% inflation, I still think there’s several more rate cuts that can happen in 2026,” Goolsbee said, but was quick to add: “But we’ve got to see it.” 2
Schwab’s got plenty riding on this: net interest income—the gap between what the firm makes from client cash and what it pays out—moves up or down with changes in yields and policy bets. If rates cool off, certain corners of the market may benefit, but that same move can tighten Schwab’s spread.
The stock remains active in a sector that tends to react sharply to anything AI-related. Earlier this month, brokerage names sold off after Altruist, a wealth-management startup, introduced new AI-powered tax planning tools—raising fresh concerns about fee compression and possible shake-ups. “Traders sell first and ask questions later,” Dennis Dick, chief market strategist at Stock Trader Network, told Reuters at the time. 3
U.S. stocks edged higher on Tuesday, lifted by modest gains after a volatile session. Investors kept weighing the benefits of AI spending against possible shakeups in various sectors. The S&P 500 inched up 0.1%, with the Nasdaq up 0.14%. The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield hovered near 4.06%. 4
Schwab’s brokerage rivals moved in different directions. LPL Financial dropped around 3.7%, with Interactive Brokers down 1.9% and Ameriprise off by roughly 1.0%. Morgan Stanley ticked higher, up about 0.2%. Robinhood slipped 0.7%.
Schwab is boosting payouts to shareholders. The board signed off on a 19% hike to the quarterly common dividend, bumping it to $0.32 per share. Investors on record as of Feb. 13 will get paid out Feb. 27. Co-Chairman Walt Bettinger pointed to the move as a show of the board’s “confidence” in Schwab’s ability to “drive profitable growth.” 5
Schwab’s most recent significant update came back in January, as the company delivered stronger fourth-quarter earnings on the back of increased interest income and robust trading revenue, according to Reuters. 6
There’s risk on both sides here. Should the Fed minutes come off more hawkish than the market’s braced for—or if fresh inflation numbers send yields tumbling—Schwab could see those rate-fueled revenue gains evaporate, and the shares might get marked down in a hurry. Then there’s AI: nobody’s put a pin in whether it squeezes margins for real or just hands out smarter tools.
Wednesday is shaping up to be packed, with industrial production figures and leading indicators both on deck before the Fed minutes drop later that afternoon — a lineup that’s primed to jolt yields, and with them, Schwab. 7
Eyes are on the Fed minutes set for Wednesday, with Friday’s PCE inflation report to follow. Both could shift the outlook for rate cuts—and might determine if SCHW manages to steady itself by week’s end.
