Stocks of several financial firms fell steeply on Tuesday as investors reacted to the rollout of a new artificial intelligence tool aimed at automating core advisory tasks.
Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) slid 7% on the session. Raymond James Financial (NYSE:RJF) also dropped 7%, while Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF) plunged 6%. Morgan Stanley shares fell 3% amid the wider weakness in financial services names.
The selling intensified after fintech platform Altruist announced it had launched an AI-powered tax planning capability inside its Hazel platform. The new function is designed to let financial advisors produce bespoke tax strategies for clients by automatically examining tax forms, financial statements and other documents in a matter of minutes.
Observers in the market pointed to the Altruist announcement as a catalyst for the selloff, expressing concern that artificial intelligence could upend established business models in financial services. The reaction followed recent AI-related declines in software and insurance sector stocks, according to market commentary.
Altruist’s founder and CEO, Jason Wenk, described the feature as expanding capacity for advisors, saying it "expands what a single advisor can handle" and "makes average advice a lot harder to justify." The company says the Hazel platform aims to automate fundamental advisory functions including tax planning, client communication and task prioritization.
Reflecting market sentiment, financial blog Zero Hedge quipped on the drop in financials by asking if "some chatbot launched a discount brokerage," capturing heightened worries that automation could displace aspects of human financial advice and traditional brokerage services.
Hazel itself was introduced in September 2025 and is reportedly used by over 1,000 wealth managers. The platform’s latest AI addition represents a further step toward automating complex advisory workflows that historically required significant human expertise.
Key takeaways
- Major U.S. financial names registered sharp declines after an AI tax-planning tool was added to Altruist’s Hazel platform.
- The announcement highlighted concerns that AI could change the economics of advisory services by enabling a single advisor to serve more clients.
- Sectors feeling the impact include financial services broadly, with related spillovers noted in software and insurance stocks.
Risks and uncertainties
- Uncertainty over how quickly AI tools will be adopted by advisory firms and whether adoption will materially reduce demand for human advisors - principal impact on wealth management and brokerage services.
- Potential market volatility as investors reassess business models of established financial institutions in light of automation-related disruption - principal impact on financial services equity valuations.
- Short-term sentiment-driven selloffs could continue if further AI-driven product announcements prompt renewed investor concern - principal impact on sectors previously affected by AI-related moves, including software and insurance.
The market reaction to the Hazel announcement underscores investor sensitivity to technological shifts that can affect the workload and value proposition of human advisors. How firms and clients respond to expanded automation capabilities will play a central role in shaping the near-term outlook for affected financial stocks.