BlackRock assets rise to $9.4 trillion, fueled by bull market

BlackRock Inc.’s assets under management rose to $9.4 trillion as the stock market rallied and investors poured money into the ETFs and cash-management products.

Net flows into all of the firm’s funds totaled $80 billion for the second quarter, BlackRock said Friday in a statement.

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Long-term investment products, which include mutual funds and ETFs, added $57 billion, missing the $81 billion average estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Clients added $48 billion to the firm’s ETFs, including $35 billion to fixed-income investments, and $23 billion to the company’s cash management products.

Still, investors yanked $4.3 billion overall from equity products, missing analysts’ estimates of $21 billion of inflows.

“Our platform-as-a-service strategy powered by strong performance is leading to clients consolidating more of their portfolios with BlackRock,” Chief Executive Officer Larry Fink said in the statement, adding that its clients and others benefit from that “differentiated approach.”

Adjusted net income rose 25 percent from a year earlier to $1.4 billion, or $9.28 a share, beating Wall Street’s average estimate of $8.45. Revenue fell 1 percent to $4.5 billion.

The S&P 500 climbed 8.3 percent in the second quarter, entering a technical bull market in early June. BlackRock and other investors bet on gains from companies developing artificial intelligence technologies, such as Nvidia.

Meanwhile, the Bloomberg US Aggregate Bond Index declined 0.8 percent in a volatile period as investors responded to shifting inflation expectations.

BlackRock, the world’s biggest money manager, increasingly seeks to position itself as a one-stop shop for investors offering equity, bond and money-market funds and strategies for private assets, as well providing tech, data, analytics and financial markets advice to clients.

Shares of BlackRock gained 4.4 percent this year, trailing the 17 percent advance for the S&P 500.

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