A switch by investors into passives or trackers helped fund manager Blackrock Inc (NYSE:BLK) surge past market forecasts in its latest quarter.
Assets under management at the end of March jumped to US$5.4trn from US$(4.74trn, while revenues rose almost 8% to US$2.82bn.
The fund giant has been shifting emphasis to more automated trading in recent months at the expense of its stock picking/active operations as that has been the trend for investors recently.
Over the past three months, the group’s active funds saw a US$1.84bn decline in money held in managed products while $82.2bn surged into its iShares and indexed arms.
Earnings for the quarter were US$5.23 against forecasts of about US$4.90 with profits at US$862mln (US$657mln).