BlackRock's assets near half of US GDP after a 15% jump

what happened

According to MarketWatch, asset manager BlackRock, led by Larry Fink, said its assets under management climbed 15% to nearly $15.5 trillion. The firm booked $205 billion in net inflows over the quarter, and $135 billion of that went into its iShares line of mostly low-fee exchange-traded funds.

Adjusted earnings per share for the third quarter rose 38% to $15.93, while revenue gained 19% to $7.75 billion. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had penciled in $14.32 per share and $7.42 billion in revenue. The $15.49 trillion asset figure slightly undershot the $15.52 trillion consensus. For perspective, that total is roughly equal to half of the country's third-quarter output, which came in at $31.1 trillion.

Fink said the firm is heading into its traditionally strongest fourth quarter with growing momentum, supported by a wide pipeline across portfolios, private markets, retirement products and international platforms. BLK shares gained about 4% in premarket trading, though the stock had gone nowhere all year and was down 0.4% heading into Wednesday.

why it matters

Steady inflows into low-cost ETFs suggest investors keep shifting toward passive strategies. The next thing to watch is whether the fourth-quarter momentum Fink described materializes, although the report itself offers no forecast.

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instruments