 "BlackRock assets exceed $9 trillion in Q1 in wake of US bank failures")
By Silla Brush
BlackRock Inc.’s assets swelled to $9.09 trillion in the first quarter as stock and bond markets rallied and depositors sought cover following the collapse of several US banks.
BlackRock Inc.’s assets swelled to $9.09 trillion in the first quarter as stock and bond markets rallied and depositors sought cover following the collapse of several US banks.
Net flows into all of the firm’s funds totaled $110 billion, New York-based BlackRock said Friday in a statement. Long-term investment products, which include mutual funds and ETFs, added $103 billion, beating the $84.1 billion average estimate of analysts in a Bloomberg survey.
The Federal Reserve began hiking rates aggressively early last year in an effort to tame inflation, testing the resilience of many small and mid-size lenders. Deposits at commercial banks have tumbled — especially in the weeks that followed the mid-March collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. BlackRock, meanwhile, has weathered the upheaval, as clients poured a net $8 billion into its cash-management products in the first quarter.
“Today’s crisis of confidence in the regional banking sector will further accelerate capital markets growth, and BlackRock will be a central player,” Chief Executive Officer Larry Fink, 70, said in the statement.
Shares of BlackRock rose 1.4% to $680 in early trading at 7:03 a.m. in New York. The stock had dropped 5.3% this year through Thursday.
BlackRock’s assets under management climbed 5.8% since the end of last year, when they totaled $8.6 trillion, fueled in part by stock- and bond-market gains. The S&P 500 climbed 7% in the first quarter, while the Bloomberg US Aggregate Bond Index rose 3%.
Adjusted net income fell 18% from a year earlier to $1.2 billion, or $7.93 a share, beating analysts’ average estimate of $7.67. Revenue declined 10% to $4.24 billion, matching Wall Street’s expectations.
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Other first-quarter highlights:
- Fixed-income ETFs took in a net $33.5 billion, while equity ETFs had net outflows of $10.1 billion; actively managed equity funds also had outflows
- Compensation and benefit expenses decreased $71 million from a year earlier because of lower incentive pay