Free NewsletterPro Login
Home » Deep Briefs »  » 3 Bank & Financial Service Stocks Investors Should Watch This Year

3 Bank & Financial Service Stocks Investors Should Watch This Year

Published: Feb 19, 2026 
Disclosure: Briefs Finance is not a broker-dealer or investment adviser. All content is general information and for educational purposes only, not individualized advice or recommendations to buy or sell any security. Investing involves significant risk, including possible loss of principal, and past performance does not guarantee future results. You are solely responsible for your investment decisions and should consult a licensed financial, legal, or tax professional before acting on any information provided.
Summary:

A major tax law passed in mid-2025 is pushing businesses to spend on real, physical assets - factories, equipment, data centers.

That's sending investor capital flowing out of overvalued tech and into bank stocks, insurers, and private credit firms.

Here's what's driving the shift and what it could mean for your portfolio.

Something quietly changed in 2025.

For nearly three years, tech stocks were the only game in town.

AI hype, cloud computing, and software growth was the growth some investors were looking for. 

Valuations in AI and tech have grown as a result and now, many of these companies are trading at 30 times their earnings, or more.

But now, something has shifted.

In mid-2025, Congress passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. 

It made the 21% corporate tax rate permanent and brought back 100% bonus depreciation - meaning businesses can now write off the full cost of many physical assets immediately, rather than spreading those deductions out over decades.

Not every asset qualifies. But many physical assets that would typically fully depreciate over 20 years can now be written off right away under current rules.

The result? Companies are suddenly being incentivized to spend money on real, tangible things. Factories. Equipment. Buildings. Data centers.

Not software or the cloud.

Now, investors are starting to shift money into the stocks that have real physical assets.

Which ones? Our analysts break down the full list of potential stock market opportunities in Market Briefs Pro. 

You can discover them all by subscribing here.

Let’s break the market shift at play here, why investors should care, and what potential profit opportunities may be emerging right now.

From Data to Dollars: The Government Shift in Play

This is what Market Briefs Pro calls a Government Shift - when policy changes redirect capital and reshape entire industries.

Here's what it looks like in practice:

Businesses that benefit from bonus depreciation need loans to fund all that new spending. 

They need insurance to protect those physical assets. And they need infrastructure to power their operations.

That means investor capital is rotating - away from speculative tech valuations and into the companies that build, lend, and insure the physical world.

These are the kinds of businesses that have been largely overlooked while Wall Street was busy chasing the next AI breakthrough. 

And as more companies increase their spending on physical assets, it creates a bigger opportunity for the financial sector companies positioned to serve them.

The new tax incentives from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act are expected to unlock roughly $2 trillion in corporate spending across the U.S. 

That's an enormous amount of capital looking for a home - and financial institutions are in a position to help put it to work.

The Yield Curve Is Doing Something Important

The yield curve is also pointing to a shifting market.

Banks make money by borrowing at short-term interest rates and lending at long-term rates. 

For years leading up to 2024, this curve was "inverted" - short-term rates were actually higher than long-term ones. 

That's unusual, and it squeezed bank profit margins significantly.

But that's changing. 

Long-term rates are now rising faster than short-term rates, which means the curve is getting steeper again.

A steeper yield curve means bigger profit margins for lenders - on every single loan they make.

Fed interest rates did fall in 2025 and are likely to fall more in the short term. 

But the chances of them falling back to near-zero levels  like we saw from 2020 to 2022  are slim. Many experts believe rates will stay higher for longer.

When rates were at zero, investors were willing to bet on software companies promising growth five years from now. 

At higher rates, a bank earning steady, predictable profits starts to look a lot more attractive by comparison.

So combine that with the One Big Beautiful Bill angle and you have some investors shifting focus from speculative AI plays to stocks that may have deeper value.

How The Math Is Changing

From 2020 to early 2023, low interest rates made it cheap for investors to borrow and deploy capital. 

That meant even speculative, high-growth tech stocks seemed like reasonable bets - because the cost of waiting for future profits was low.

But as rates rose and stayed elevated, the math changed. 

Investors started asking a simple question: why take on the risk of a high-valuation tech stock when a well-run bank is generating real profits today?

That question is driving what investors call a rotation - capital moving from one sector to another based on changing conditions. 

In this case, money is moving from speculative growth into what's often called the "real economy" - companies that deal in concrete, steel, and dollars, for example, not just lines of code.

And the companies best positioned to capture this shift aren't obscure startups. They're some of the biggest financial institutions in the world.

Two Names Worth Knowing

The Market Briefs Pro report highlights three companies tracking this shift. Here's a brief look at two of them.

JPMorgan Chase (JPM) - The Banking Play

JPMorgan is the largest bank in the United States - and it sits right at the center of this shift.

About 51% of its revenue comes from net interest income, essentially the difference between what it pays depositors and what it charges borrowers. 

As the yield curve steepens, that margin expands, which means more profit on every loan.

Even after hitting a new all-time high in early January 2026, JPM was still trading at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of around 15 - well below the S&P 500 average of 21. That gap is exactly the kind of thing value-oriented investors look for. It suggests the market may not yet be fully pricing in the earnings potential ahead.

KKR & Co. (KKR) - The Private Credit Play

Where JPMorgan finances public companies, KKR has quietly become a major lender to the private market.

KKR is an alternative asset manager that started in private equity - buying companies, improving them, and selling them for a profit. 

But its fastest-growing segment today is private credit: making loans to companies that either can't or don't want to borrow from traditional banks.

KKR has also been buying physical assets - data centers, pipelines, fiber networks - and leasing them back to tech companies that need that infrastructure to operate. 

The company has fallen in share price this year as some investors rotate out of tech, but has the potential to bounce back.

BTW: Our analysts identified one other potential opportunity within this market shift.

Find out which out by subscribing to Market Briefs Pro and reading our full report.

What Are the Risks?

Policy change is the biggest one. The entire thesis is built on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act staying intact.

Credit risk is real, too. While a company like JPMorgan has a solid balance sheet, many of its clients do not. A recession, a slowdown, or a broader market crash could make it harder for borrowers to repay loans.

And tech could roar back. A major new AI breakthrough or surge in software adoption could pull investor attention right back to the Nasdaq, leaving financials in the dust.

Investors in this shift are effectively betting that tangible assets are finally worth more than digital promises. That could reverse at any moment.

The Bottom Line

For nearly three years, the trade was simple: buy tech, ignore everything else.

That may be changing  and the catalyst is a piece of legislation most people haven't thought much about.

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act is redirecting how businesses spend money. And that's redirecting how investors are thinking about where to put their capital. 

The companies that build, lend, and insure the physical world have been undervalued for years while Wall Street's attention was elsewhere.

As the market rotates toward the real economy, that may finally be starting to change.

For investors willing to look beyond the tech sector, 2026 could be a rare window - one where understanding the shift matters more than chasing the hype.

Subscribe to Market Briefs Pro if you want more research, data, and potential stock market opportunities.


Tag »

More Deep Briefs

How to Choose an ETF That Matches Your Idea (Using the ETF Planning Tool)

Is This Stock a Good Buy? How to Use the Briefs Score to Tell If a Stock Fits the Way You Invest

How to Tell an Asset From a Liability: The One Question to Ask Before You Buy Anything

How to Build Your First $2,000 Emergency Fund and Wipe Out Every Debt Over 10%

How to Invest Through a Crash: 3 Rules From the Worst-Timed Investor Alive

Active vs. Passive Investing: How To Build A Million Dollar Portfolio Faster

Growth, Income, or Wealth Preservation: How To Build Wealth No Matter Which Way You Invest

What Is the Briefs Connector? A Simple Guide

Is a Recession Coming? What the Last Five Rate Hiking Cycles Say

Fed Interest Rates May Rise Again in 2026 - and the Newest Culprit Is AI

Housing Market 2026: Why Office Buildings Are Cracking Before Houses Do

Dividend Investing vs. Growth Investing: Why the Slower Portfolio Can End Up Bigger

Why Is Gold Going Down? A 5.2% Treasury Yield Just Took Its Job

The Strategic Bitcoin Reserve: Why the Government Wants Bitcoin to Explode

BRIEFS EXCLUSIVE: 43% Of Respondents Say Bills Outran Their Income Over Past Two Years

The Economy Is Booming. So Why Did Stocks and Bonds Fall Together?

The 2026 Economic Reset Is Starting: Are We in a Recession, or Is the Pain Still Ahead?

Are We in a Recession? Without AI, America Might Already Be in One - and Washington Knows It

Will Interest Rates Go Down in 2026? Where the Money Moves Either Way

How the Federal Reserve Makes Money - and Why It Just Posted Its Biggest Loss Ever

Kevin Warsh Just Defied Trump: What the Fed Rate Hike Means for Your Money

Why America Bailed Out the Yen: The Japan Carry Trade, the Dollar and Your Mortgage Rate

Treasury Yields Are Spiking Because Lenders Are Backing Away From U.S. Debt

Fiat Currency Runs on Trust, and the World Just Stopped Trusting the Dollar

When Will RAM Prices Go Down? Inside the Memory Shortage

How Is the Economy Doing? Washington Says It's Fixed, but the Numbers Don't Agree

US National Debt Hits $40 Trillion: Why the Economy Hasn't Collapsed Yet

Your 401k Is Fueling the AI Bubble

What Is Wealth Preservation? How To Protect Your Money From Anything

Why Is Everything So Expensive? Why Prices May Never Come Back Down

US Housing Market: Why Renting Can Cost Less Than Buying

An Interest Rate Hike in 2026? The Fed Just Broke Its Own Script

5 Passive Income Ideas That Pay You Whether You Work or Not

The Best Way to Invest 10k: Three Options To Transform 10K into 10 Million

The Tax Write Offs the Rich Are Using in 2026 While the IRS Shrinks

America Is Running Out of Debt Buyers. Treasury Bills Are the Government's Fix

How to Get the Most From Your Guideline 401k

Principal 401k: What to Know About Your Plan

What a Tariff Dividend Means for Your Money

No Tax on Overtime: How Overtime Pay Is Taxed

Reading the Silver Price Forecast for 2026

What to Do When Reddit Stocks Go Viral

Why Is Bitcoin Dropping? 4 Reasons Bitcoin Falls

The Fidelity 500 Index Fund, Made Simple for Beginners

USA Penny Stocks: Risks and Rewards Explained

Finding Cheap Stocks to Buy Now Without Getting Burned

Best Dividend Stocks: A Beginner's Playbook

Roth 401k, Explained for New Investors

How a Roth IRA Calculator Shows Your Future Wealth

Portfolio Diversification: Why Putting All Your Eggs in One Basket Destroys Wealth

Non Taxable Income: What It Is and Why It Matters

What Are Semiconductor Stocks? Chip Stocks Explained

How Stocks Work: A Simple Guide for Beginners

Stop Loss vs Stop Limit: What's the Difference?

Energy Stocks: A Simple Guide for Investors

What Is a Stop Loss Order? A Simple Guide

Best S&P 500 Index Fund: How to Choose One

What Are Penny Stocks? Risks and Rewards Explained

Best Stocks for Beginners With Little Money

Tech Stocks: A Simple Guide for New Investors

What Is a Joint Stock Company? A Simple Guide

Capital Gains Tax in California: A Simple Guide

Top Covered Call ETFs: How to Compare Them

What Are Stock Options? A Plain-English Guide

EBITDA Margin: What It Is and How to Calculate It

What Is Taxable Income? A Simple Guide for Investors

What Is a Covered Call? How the Strategy Works

What Is Gross Margin? A Simple Guide for Investors

What Is a Dividend? A Plain-English Guide for Investors

Financial Literacy Books That Actually Build Wealth

What Is a Roth Conversion? A Simple Guide

Trailing Stop Loss: How to Protect Your Gains

5 Types of Wealth: Why Money Is Only One of Them

How to Invest in Private Equity: A Beginner's Guide

What Is a Call Option? A Simple Guide With Examples

EBITDA Formula: How to Calculate It Step by Step

What Is a Stock Option? A Plain-English Guide

Put Option: What It Is and How It Works

Operating Margin: What It Is and How to Calculate It

Enterprise Value: What It Is and How to Calculate It

Free Cash Flow: What It Is and Why It Matters

What Is Working Capital? A Simple Guide for Investors

Covered Call: How This Income Strategy Actually Works

Gross Margin: What It Is and How to Calculate It

Backdoor Roth IRA: A Simple Guide for High Earners

Mega Backdoor Roth: A Simple Guide for Big Savers

Dividend Calculator: How to Estimate Your Dividend Income

How to Create Multiple Income Streams: A Beginner's Playbook

The 60/40 Portfolio Explained: A Beginner's Guide

How to Invest in Silver: A Beginner's Guide

Asset Allocation by Age: The Right Portfolio Mix at Every Stage of Life

Stablecoin Explained: Why Some Cryptocurrencies Actually Aren't Volatile

Buy Now, Pay Later Risks: Why This "Easy" Payment Method Is Dangerous to Your Wealth

Dividend Payout Ratio: The Secret Metric That Shows If a Stock Is Safe or Risky

Ethereum for Beginners: What It Is and Why Smart Investors Are Paying Attention

Dollar Cost Averaging Strategy: How to Beat Emotion and Build Wealth Steadily

The BRRRR Strategy: How to Build Real Estate Wealth Without Big Money Down

What Is GDP? A Beginner's Guide to Understanding Economic Growth

What Is Blockchain? A Plain English Guide For Investors

How To Negotiate Bills: The Script That Saves You Hundreds A Year

1 2 3

Get Market Briefs delivered to your inbox every morning for free!

No fluff. No noise. No politics. Just finance news you can read in 5 minutes.
Join Free

Blogs

October 23, 2026
Are We in a Recession? 5 Threats to the Economy and Where the Money Is Moving
  • The S&P 500 is up about 13% this year, but without AI it's in a bear market, with nearly 40% of its companies down more than 20% for four months or longer.
  • Jackson, Briefs Finance's head of investing research, sees five threats: rising interest rates, sticky inflation, an economy propped up by AI, a struggling UK, and high oil prices.
  • The opportunities he's watching mostly sit outside the dollar: rising economies like Brazil and Indonesia, US-backed emerging market bonds paying 7% to 9%, and the shifts that fear creates.
Read More
October 16, 2026
How Boring Math Makes You Rich: The Briefs Money Spreadsheet, Explained
  • Briefs Money shows you what to do with every paycheck, and in what order: how much to spend, save, and invest, when to build an emergency fund, and which debt to pay off first.
  • The Climb to Wealth course walks you through the system step by step, and the Personal Finance Spreadsheet is where you track your own numbers.
  • Investing is one piece of building wealth. The system that gets money to your investments, and keeps it there, decides the outcome.
Read More
October 16, 2026
Common Investing Mistakes: Why a Stock Grade Is One Tool, Not the Whole Toolkit
  • The Briefs Score shows growth, income, and wealth preservation investors how well a stock fits their goal, with a separate letter grade for each one.
  • The most common mistake is treating the letter as an instruction. An A tells you a stock scores well for one goal, not that you should buy today.
  • Research works best as one input in a process you own. The grade shows how a stock stacks up. You supply the goal, the timeline, and the rules for being wrong.
Read More
October 16, 2026
How to Read a Company's Numbers Without a Finance Degree (Using Briefs Terminal)
  • Briefs Terminal lets you size up any public company in about ten minutes: what the stock costs, what it earns, how fast sales are growing, and what it pays you, all on one page.
  • It lines those numbers up against the company's closest competitors for you, so you can tell if a number is impressive or just average.
  • Below that are the income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement from the company's SEC filings, the latest news, and transcripts of its earnings calls.
Read More
October 16, 2026
What Type of Investor Am I? The Three Investor Archetypes, Explained
  • Briefs sorts its stock grades and monthly reports by three investor goals: growth, income, and wealth preservation. Pick yours and you know which report and which grade to read first.
  • Growth investors want stocks that beat the S&P 500. Income investors want to get paid in cash. Wealth preservation investors want stocks that hold up when the market drops.
  • The same stock can score an A- for one goal and a D- for another, so picking your goal comes before picking any stock.
Read More
October 16, 2026
How to Build a Stock Watchlist That Isn't Just Stocks You Heard About
  • A watchlist on Briefs Terminal lets you group stocks by the idea you're tracking and follow each one's price, one-day move, and 52-week high and low in one place.
  • Each list has its own name and description, so you always know why a stock is on it, and you can make as many lists as you have ideas.
  • The monthly growth, income, and wealth preservation reports under the Briefs Research tab hand you new themes to track that you didn't hear about online.
Read More
October 16, 2026
How to Choose an ETF That Matches Your Idea (Using the ETF Planning Tool)
  • The ETF planning tool takes an idea like "I want to invest in fast food companies," asks what you mean, and finds the ETFs that match, with the reasons, the holdings, and the sources.
  • Build a Plan then shows what your money could grow to in those ETFs over the years you choose, with conservative, expected, and optimistic estimates next to the S&P 500.
  • It gets you from an idea to an actual plan without researching dozens of companies one at a time.
Read More
October 16, 2026
Is This Stock a Good Buy? How to Use the Briefs Score to Tell If a Stock Fits the Way You Invest
  • The Briefs Score shows growth, income, and wealth preservation investors how well a stock fits their goal, with a separate letter grade for each one.
  • One stock can score very differently for each. Nvidia showed an A- for growth and a D- for income, because it grows fast and pays almost no dividend.
  • Seven sub scores under each grade show what earned the letter, so you can see exactly where a stock is strong or weak for your goal.
Read More
October 16, 2026
How to Tell an Asset From a Liability: The One Question to Ask Before You Buy Anything
  • The typical American household earned more in 2025 than in any year on record, yet only 30% of Americans say they could pay a surprise $1,000 bill from savings, so the problem isn't income but what the income gets spent on.
  • An asset puts money in your pocket and a liability takes money out, and the wealthy buy assets first, then let the assets pay for the fun stuff.
  • Before you buy anything, ask one question: does this put money in my pocket, or take money out of my pocket? Then you need a plan for the money you keep.
Read More
October 16, 2026
How to Build Your First $2,000 Emergency Fund and Wipe Out Every Debt Over 10%
  • Your first money goal isn't investing, it's $2,000 in its own account named Do Not Touch, built by moving 10% of every paycheck into it automatically.
  • More than a third of American adults couldn't cover a $400 surprise bill with cash or savings, according to the Federal Reserve, and that's how one bad day turns into years of credit card payments.
  • Once the $2,000 is there, attack every debt charging more than 10% interest, highest rate first, because you can't out-invest a 22% credit card so paying it off is the investment.
Read More
1 2 3 … 29
Share via
Copy link