Charles Schwab & Hasbro CEOs on Earnings, SSA Commissioner and IRS CEO Frank Bisignano Responds to WSJ Report of Misconduct while at JPM 7/21/26

**Sara Eisen** (0:00)
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**Sara Eisen** (1:00)
Good Tuesday morning. Welcome to Squawk on the Street. I'm Sara Eisen with Carl Quintanilla and Mike Santoli, live from Post 9 of the New York Stock Exchange. David Faber is off today. Stocks are aiming for a comeback with tech in the lead as chip names get a boost. We'll talk about whether the major averages can break out of this tight range. Plus in a crucial week for earnings, we've got three CEOs for you coming up that just reported results.
Charles Schwab CEO Rick Wurster, Hasbro CEO Chris Cox, and Novartis CEO Vasanar Simen.
Also, the Wall Street Journal out today with a big story on Social Security and IRS Chief Frank Bisignano saying he spied on colleagues while he worked at JPMorgan. Bisignano will join us exclusively to respond to that. Also talk some news today on cutting fraud at the IRS. But first, guys, we are knee deep in earning season. And so that means that I'm on the lookout for any comments on the consumer and on the macro environment. And we got a trio of the consumer finance companies. And all sounded pretty strong when it comes to talking about how they can see the consumer right now. Of course, it's important because they sit at the center of consumer credit. Here's the synchrony, CEO. The proportion of discretionary spend was consistent or higher across customer cohorts throughout the quarter, even as fuel prices rose significantly. Overall, we believe these trends reflect resilient consumer behavior. That's good, especially in light of the higher gas prices. Equifax, CEO, we have not seen financial institutions increase their portfolio management views or decrease consumer credit lines, which are actions that would typically take when they anticipate an economic downturn. Also good, Ally Financial, consumers have remained resilient, and we are encouraged by the credit performance across the portfolio. Look, I know there's a lot of talk about the K-shaped economy. Adam Parker from Tribariat, who publishes on the equity market, was on yesterday with me in closing down. He was talking about how, yes, discrepancy between those who have assets like stocks and real estate, and they're doing especially well at the high end versus the low end, but he sees it as more of a balance sheet issue, less of an income issue, because what we have seen is not a rise in unemployment and strong earnings, wages, wage growth, and then, no surprise maybe, that the consumer has held up relatively well in the face of those higher gas prices.

**Mike Santoli** (3:11)
Yeah, if you have a job you're spending, it's not really pinched, you had the help with the tax refunds. I mean, I think the way the market kind of assesses all this is that's great. That means that a buckling US consumer is not among the things I need to worry about right now. And so we set the whole thing aside and say it's much more about, you know, is this CapEx cycle of sustainable or companies to be able to raise money to plow more into AI? Is it all coming at the expense of the big tech platforms? At this point anyway, I do think it's about, you know, not so much a accelerating US economy, but one that's just kind of plugging along.

**Carl Quintanilla** (3:48)
Yeah, I mean, it'll be interesting to get the earnings from retailers and see whether Walmart is willing to say again that consumers are self rationing at the gas pump. Page one of the Times today is all about people who are literally eligible for food stamps and are not able to get them because the states are so leery of making a mistake, the complexity of means testing, not to mention the 10 million people who are going to lose health benefits as a result of the big beautiful bill.