Schwab (CHARLES) Corp. (The) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Charles Schwab's Trading Activity Index (STAX) rose to 51.94 in February 2025 from 49.45 in January, indicating 'moderate' trading activity. Schwab clients were net buyers of equities early in the month, particularly in Information Technology, Consumer Discretionary, and Communication Services sectors.

The S&P 500 experienced two distinct phases: reaching record highs mid-month following delayed U.S. tariffs and strong Q4 earnings, before declining around February 21 due to renewed tariff threats and weak economic data, ending down 1%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq saw larger losses as investors rotated out of 'Magnificent Seven' stocks.

Key market factors included: rising 10-year Treasury yields reaching 4.6% before falling to 4.25%, mixed inflation data, and lower-than-expected January jobs growth of 143,000. The VIX increased from below 15 to above 20 by month-end. Top bought stocks included TSLA, PLTR, AMZN, while META, SMCI, and AAPL were most sold.

Charles Schwab's latest quarterly trader client sentiment survey reveals that while two-thirds of traders believe the market is currently overvalued, overall sentiment remains bullish at 51% compared to 34% bearish. Younger traders (under 40) have shown a significant increase in bullishness, jumping from 47% in Q4 2024 to 59% in Q1 2025.

The survey indicates a notable decline in recession expectations, with only one-third of traders believing a 2025 recession is somewhat likely, down from 54% in Q4 2024. Most traders anticipate interest rate cuts of 50 basis points or fewer this year, while two-thirds expect inflation to hold steady.

Sector-wise, traders are most bullish on Energy, IT, Finance, and Utilities, with Finance seeing an 11-point quarterly increase. Regarding the new administration, traders consider it the most significant factor impacting the stock market in 2025, ahead of Fed policy, geopolitical conflicts, inflation, and corporate earnings.

Charles Schwab (SCHW) has released its January 2025 Monthly Activity Report, showcasing significant growth across key metrics. Core net new assets reached $30.6 billion, marking a 75% year-over-year increase. Total client assets hit $10.33 trillion, up 21% from January 2024 and 2% from December 2024.

The company saw 433,000 new brokerage accounts opened, an 18% increase from January 2024. Daily average trades rose 7% month-over-month to 7.37 million. However, transactional sweep cash decreased by $19 billion to $399.6 billion, attributed to typical seasonal patterns as clients reinvest year-end cash. Bank supplemental funding balances reduced by $3.7 billion, ending at $46.2 billion.

Charles Schwab (NYSE: SCHW) has completed a significant secondary offering where TD Group US Holdings sold 165,443,530 shares at $79.25 per share, totaling $13.1 billion. This offering, combined with a previously announced $1.5 billion share repurchase by Charles Schwab from TD, marks TD's complete exit from its shareholding position.

The secondary offering was led by TD Securities and Goldman Sachs & Co. , with Piper Sandler & Co. serving as financial and capital markets advisor. Following this transaction, Brian M. Levitt and Bharat B. Masrani have resigned from Charles Schwab's board of directors. Notably, Charles Schwab did not receive any proceeds from this share sale.

Charles Schwab has announced the launch of 24-hour trading access for all retail clients, allowing trading of S&P 500, Nasdaq-100 stocks, and hundreds of ETFs 24 hours a day, five days a week through the thinkorswim platform suite. This expansion follows successful pilots conducted at the end of 2024.

The overnight session orders (EXTO) are continuous orders expiring at 8pm ET each market day. During the pilot period from November through January, the most active trading hours were between 8-9pm ET and 3-4am ET. The most actively traded stocks included Tesla (TSLA), NVIDIA (NVDA), Palantir (PLTR), MicroStrategy (MSTR), and AMD.

This development builds upon Ameritrade's 2018 initiative, which first introduced 24/5 trading for about two dozen ETFs. Schwab, which acquired Ameritrade in 2020, currently manages $10.10 trillion in total client assets and facilitates approximately six million daily average trades.

Charles Schwab (NYSE: SCHW) has announced the pricing of a major secondary offering by TD Group US Holdings , an affiliate of The Toronto-Dominion Bank. The offering consists of 165,443,530 shares priced at $79.25 per share, totaling approximately $13.1 billion.

The secondary offering is expected to close on February 12, 2025, subject to customary conditions. Following this offering and a previously announced $1.5 billion share repurchase by Charles Schwab from TD, TD will have completely divested its stake in the company. Charles Schwab will not receive any proceeds from this stock sale.

The offering is being led by TD Securities and Goldman Sachs & Co. A registration statement and preliminary prospectus supplement have been filed with the SEC, with a final prospectus to follow.

Charles Schwab's Trading Activity Index (STAX) declined to 49.45 in January 2025 from 51.16 in December, indicating a 'moderate low' trading activity compared to historical averages. Schwab clients adopted a defensive approach, becoming net sellers in Information Technology and Communications sectors while net buying Energy, Real Estate, and Utilities.

The S&P 500 experienced volatility in January, initially declining amid inflation concerns that pushed the 10-year Treasury yield to 4.8%. Markets later rebounded following benign December inflation data and strong earnings from major sectors. However, the month ended with uncertainty after the Federal Reserve paused rate cuts and news about China's DeepSeek AI technology impacted tech stocks.

Top stocks bought by Schwab clients included NVIDIA, Palantir, Apple, Tesla, and Microsoft, while major sells included Disney, Boeing, Bank of America, Walgreens, and Starbucks.

Charles Schwab (NYSE: SCHW) announced a significant secondary offering where TD Group US Holdings , holding 184.7 million shares (10.1% ownership), will exit its full investment in the company. Additionally, Schwab entered into a $1.5 billion share repurchase agreement with TD, to be executed at the secondary offering price less underwriting discount.

The repurchase will be funded by cash on hand under Schwab's existing share repurchase program, leaving approximately $7.2 billion remaining in the authorized program. The company plans to continue opportunistic repurchases throughout 2025, aligned with its financial objectives. TD Securities and Goldman Sachs will lead the secondary offering, from which Charles Schwab will not receive any proceeds.

Schwab Asset Management has launched its second actively managed fixed income ETF, the Schwab Core Bond ETF (NYSE Arca: SCCR). The ETF began trading today and is modeled after the Wasmer Schroeder Core Bond Separately Managed Account strategy.

The new ETF aims to deliver total return and generate income by investing in various U.S. dollar-denominated debt securities, including corporate bonds, taxable municipal bonds, mortgage pass-through securities, commercial mortgage-backed securities, asset-backed securities, U.S. Treasuries, and other government-related bonds.