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Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
BlackRock Adds to AI-Stocks Bet in $160 Billion Model Portfolios
(Bloomberg) -- The world's largest asset manager is adding to bets on the artificial intelligence within its US model portfolios while trimming its overall equity risk because of tariff uncertainty. Can Frank Gehry's 'Grand LA' Make Downtown Feel Like a Neighborhood? Chicago's O'Hare Airport Seeks Up to $4.3 Billion of Muni Debt NJ Transit Makes Deal With Engineers, Ending Three-Day Strike BlackRock Inc. is increasing exposure to AI within its equity-heavy portfolios through the iShares AI Innovation and Tech Active ETF (ticker BAI). The actively managed fund quadrupled in size after it took in roughly $436 million on Tuesday, the largest one-day net inflows since its inception last October. BlackRock's shift underscores how institutional asset managers are reluctant to max out their exposures across the broad stock market, opting instead to lean into the biggest winners of this tech-driven era. BAI has large positions in Nvidia Corp., Broadcom Inc., and Meta Platforms Inc., and has risen 29% over the last month as risk assets rebounded from tariff-driven lows. 'Tech remains one of our highest conviction and longest running portfolio overweights, and within tech AI is the highest conviction drivers,' Michael Gates, lead portfolio manager for BlackRock's $160 billion Target Allocation ETF model portfolio suite, wrote in a memo. While the AI-trade is exposed to tariff headlines and some investors have flagged valuation concerns, some analysts are optimistic on the earnings outlook for artificial-intelligence-linked sectors for the remainder of the year. BlackRock is also paring its equity exposure across its US models after the recent risk-on rally. The asset manager is trimming its overweight on stocks relative to bonds to 1% from 3%, reducing an overweight allocation to growth stocks and adding value stocks outside of the US. Gates said the moves are a response to the uncertainty around trade negotiations and are 'not a reflection of diminished confidence in US exceptionalism.' 'In our view, the more significant concern around tariffs lies in their potential to modestly weigh on global growth, as supply chains may take time to adapt and business confidence remains sensitive to evolving trade dynamics,' he added. The iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV) shed $6.28 billion on Tuesday, the biggest one-day decrease since March, while about $822 million left the iShares S&P 500 Growth ETF (IVW). Meanwhile, the iShares MSCI EAFE Value ETF (EFV) took in a net $912 million, the largest inflow since September. Within its equity-heavy portfolios, it also added to the iShares US Thematic Rotation Active ETF (THRO), which garnered more than $3 billion on Tuesday, the biggest-one day flow ever. In fixed-income, the iShares 0-5 Year Tips Bond ETF (STIP) took in a net $553 million, its biggest inflow since 2022. Model portfolios package together funds into ready-made strategies to sell to financial advisers and institutions. Broadridge Financial Solutions estimates that model assets could reach $11 trillion by 2028, with ETFs seen as a key driver of that growth. Why Apple Still Hasn't Cracked AI Inside the First Stargate AI Data Center Anthropic Is Trying to Win the AI Race Without Losing Its Soul Microsoft's CEO on How AI Will Remake Every Company, Including His Cartoon Network's Last Gasp ©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
The Guardian
14-05-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
US justice department asks civil rights division attorneys to stay after mass exits
Justice department officials have asked civil rights division attorneys to reconsider their decision to leave the department in recent weeks, according to people familiar with the matter, a sign that the agency may have been caught off-guard by the wave of personnel leaving. Officials have also asked attorneys, including career managers, who were involuntarily detailed to low-level offices last month, if they would consider returning to their sections to handle civil rights work, the people said. The attorneys were removed in late April in what was widely understood as an effort to force them to accept a paid offer to leave the department. Leadership had also encouraged employees to accept the paid offer to leave. As a 28 April deadline approached for accepting the paid leave offer, Michael Gates, a political appointee in the civil rights division, told section chiefs there would be a 'tightening of the belt' moving forward, a person familiar with the matter said. More than 250 civil rights division attorneys have left since January or are planning to leave, an approximate 70% reduction in the division's personnel. It's unclear how many attorneys were asked to stay and how many, if any, accepted. The Guardian has confirmed that the request was made at least of attorneys in the educational opportunities section, which enforces anti-discrimination law in schools. Many of the Trump administration's priorities, including challenging DEI programs, investigating allegations of anti-semitism on campuses, and limiting the rights of transgender people fall under the purview of the section. Also uncertain is how many lawyers were asked to consider returning to their sections, but some have accepted and returned, according to the people familiar, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. An email also went out on Monday asking attorneys in the housing and civil enforcement section to volunteer in the sections enforcing federal anti-discrimination laws in voting and employment, according a person who had seen the message and described it to the Guardian. If not enough people volunteer, the email said three people would be assigned. While justice department leadership has cheered departures from the civil rights division, the recent requests suggest the agency may be scrambling to find attorneys to work on the matters the Trump administration wants to prioritize, including investigations into allegations of antisemitism on college campuses, protecting white people from discrimination, and limiting the rights of transgender people. The new missions are a radical departure from the longstanding focus of the civil rights division, which started in 1957 to enforce federal civil rights laws to protect minorities and marginalized groups. Sign up to This Week in Trumpland A deep dive into the policies, controversies and oddities surrounding the Trump administration after newsletter promotion 'In addition to treating the civil rights division staff with complete disrespect, they're also utterly incompetent,' said Stacey Young, who started Justice Connection, a group for department alumni, earlier this year after quitting the agency. 'They drove people out and only after the fact seem to have realized that that was a terrible idea.' The justice department did not return a request for comment. Harmeet Dhillon, a Donald Trump ally who leads the civil rights division, has celebrated the departures. 'Over 100 attorneys decided that they'd rather not do what their job requires them to do, and I think that's fine,' she said in a 26 April interview on conservative commentator Glenn Beck's podcast. She also has said she has 'more applicants than I can possibly hire right now'. Young said that justice department job postings must be publicly advertised and that the department currently had none posted for the civil rights division. 'Where are these applicants coming from?' she said.
Yahoo
01-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
BlackRock Adds Spot Bitcoin ETF IBIT to Model Portfolios
BlackRock Inc. (BLK) has added the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), its spot bitcoin ETF, to two of its model portfolios, the company confirmed to Friday. IBIT—the largest of the spot bitcoin ETFs with $48.3 billion in assets—was added to the Target Allocation with Alternatives and the Target Allocation with Alternatives Tax-Aware portfolios, a company spokesperson said. In a note, Michael Gates, lead portfolio manager for BlackRock's Target Allocation ETF model portfolio suite wrote: "In portfolios that hold alternatives, we are adding a position in Bitcoin, funded from equities as an additional alternative asset with a fixed supply, with a potentially diversifying source of risk and return." Though BlackRock's model portfolio universe represents some $150 billion, the company explained that IBIT's addition is only an extremely small slice. "The addition of IBIT to these portfolios as a diversifier are in line with the investment objectives of this model, as Target Allocation with Alts portfolios are designed for investors with a higher risk budget and growth target," a BlackRock spokesperson said to New York-based BlackRock is the world's biggest exchange-traded fund issuer, managing more than $3 trillion in 438 ETFs. Adding IBIT to the model portfolios allows investors more opportunities to access cryptocurrency. Still, the move comes as spot bitcoin ETFS have been hit by record outflows amid a slump in the price of the largest cryptocurrency. Bitcoin has fallen to less than $84,000, a 90-day low. "We believe bitcoin has long-term investment merit and can potentially provide unique and additive sources of diversification to portfolios," Gates wrote in his note. Nearly $3 billion has flowed from spot bitcoin ETFs over the past week, with more than $700 million leaving IBIT this week alone, according to data. The outflows are the most that spot bitcoin has seen since they launched in January of last year. Despite the record high outflows, IBIT still remains the largest spot bitcoin ETF. The fund has raked in more than $37 billion since its launch, more than triple the inflows of the next largest spot bitcoin ETF, FBTC, the Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin | © Copyright 2025 All rights reserved Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
28-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
BlackRock Adds Its Bitcoin ETF to Model Portfolio for First Time
(Bloomberg) -- The world's biggest asset manager is finally allowing Bitcoin into its $150 billion model-portfolio universe. Cuts to Section 8 Housing Assistance Loom Amid HUD Uncertainty The Trump Administration Takes Aim at Transportation Research Shelters Await Billions in Federal Money for Homelessness Providers NYC Office Buildings See Resurgence as Investors Pile Into Bonds NYC's Congestion Pricing Pulls In $48.6 Million in First Month BlackRock Inc. is adding a 1% to 2% allocation to the $48 billion iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (ticker IBIT) in its target allocation portfolios that allow for alternatives, according to an investment outlook viewed by Bloomberg. While that's a small subset of BlackRock's entire model portfolio business, the addition opens up a potential avenue of new demand for IBIT at a time when cryptocurrency sentiment is souring. Model portfolios, which package together funds into ready-made strategies to sell to financial advisers, have boomed in recent years and tweaks to their holdings can result in massive flows in either direction. 'We believe Bitcoin has long-term investment merit and can potentially provide unique and additive sources of diversification to portfolios,' Michael Gates, lead portfolio manager for BlackRock's Target Allocation ETF model portfolio suite, wrote in investment commentary dated Feb. 27th. The move by BlackRock comes as Bitcoin prices crater alongside stocks, with a toxic brew of economic concerns and trade tensions weighing on risk appetite. The cryptocurrency is currently trading around $83,000, after reaching nearly $110,000 last month. Bitcoin's famed volatility is a core reason why the asset manager mapped out a 1% to 2% weighting as a 'reasonable range' in a December paper from the BlackRock Investment Institute. At the time it added that anything beyond 2% would sharply increase crypto's share of overall portfolio risk. IBIT's January 2024 launch was one of the most successful debuts on record, with the fund absorbing more than $37 billion worth of inflows last year alone. While appetite has sputtered recently — investors have pulled $900 million over the past week — demand from advisers for exposure within model portfolios was strong, according to BlackRock. 'They all want to allocate more to alternatives, but they need guidance on how to size, scale, and rebalance the position,' Eve Cout, head of portfolio design and solutions for US Wealth at BlackRock, said in an interview. The IBIT addition was just one of several allocation adjustments outlined in Thursday's letter. Cooling earnings expectations led the firm's model-portfolio team to trim its overweight to equities to 3% from 4%, while bringing its tilt to growth strategies versus value trades closer in-line. Within fixed-income, BlackRock is reducing its long-duration exposure. Billions of dollars flowed between several BlackRock products on Thursday as a result. Among the most notable flows was a record $2.3 billion influx into the iShares 10-20 Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLH), while $1.8 billion exited from the iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT). A BlackRock spokesperson confirmed that the firm adjusted its model portfolio allocations. 'Our conviction is still in stocks over bonds, US over international, growth over value and tech over the rest of the market,' Gates wrote. 'But the magnitude of each of those directional views is something we look to reduce.' Rich People Are Firing a Cash Cannon at the US Economy—But at What Cost? Trump's SALT Tax Promise Hinges on an Obscure Loophole Warner Bros. Movie Heads Are Burning Cash, and Their Boss Is Losing Patience Walmart Wants to Be Something for Everyone in a Divided America China Learned to Embrace What the US Forgot: The Virtues of Creative Destruction ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Sign in to access your portfolio
New York Times
25-02-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
In Huntington Beach, Politics on a Plaque
They call themselves the 'MAGA-nificent 7.' They once posed for a picture inside City Hall wearing red caps with the slogan 'Make Huntington Beach Great Again.' But the Huntington Beach City Council, in Southern California, had even more MAGA in store. The seven-member body, all of whom are Republicans, decided to turn a seemingly humdrum municipal task — commemorating the 50th anniversary of the city's central public library — into a political statement, using their favorite acronym. The council-approved design of the plaque describes the library in this bold-letter fashion: Magical Alluring Galvanizing Adventurous 'This is a historical moment,' said Councilwoman Gracey Van Der Mark, who came up with the idea for the plaque. 'And if people do not think America is great and don't want to make it great again, they're in the wrong country — because millions of people risk their lives to come to this one country.' The wording of the plaque has thrown Huntington Beach — an Orange County surf town with 192,000 residents that's about 30 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles — into the national spotlight. But the dispute is part of a yearslong battle over the city's political and cultural identity. Huntington Beach has become one of the reddest cities in one of the bluest states in America. Both before and after voters in November ousted the last three remaining Democratic members of the Council, city leaders have pushed a series of Trump-style policies and tangled in court with state officials. They passed a voter ID law. They banned nongovernmental flags from being flown on city property, after previous council members voted to fly a rainbow flag during Pride month. They prohibited Covid-related mask and vaccination mandates. They amended the city's declaration on human dignity to eliminate references to hate crimes, recognized the 'genetic differences between male and female' and adopted a resolution supporting the Texas governor's move to deploy the National Guard to the southern border. They voted to scrap a number of commissions, including a human relations committee that was created after two hate crimes perpetrated by white supremacists in the 1990s. Michael Gates, the elected city attorney who spearheaded several legal battles against the state, left the position this year and joined President Trump's Justice Department. The city sued the state over its 'sanctuary state' law, which prevents the police in many cases from holding people at the request of federal immigration agents. California, meanwhile, has sued Huntington Beach over its voter ID law and its refusal to adopt a plan for new housing mandated by the state. The recent push to the right has set off a vocal backlash from liberal residents, independents and anti-Trump Republicans. The disputes are at odds with the sunny setting and typically chill vibes of a city with 10 miles of open beach, a protected estuary and a rich surfing scene. Former Councilman Dan Kalmick, a Democrat who lost re-election last year, said he had heard from people who put their houses on the market because of the city's pro-Trump leanings. He himself has contemplated leaving the city he's called home for 20 years. He and other critics of the Council said that city leaders were trying to distract from more serious problems, including a budget deficit forecast for the coming years and accusations that they mishandled the settlement of a lawsuit by the organizer of the city's annual air show. 'These people are going to 'own the libs' into bankruptcy, and it's absolutely wild,' Mr. Kalmick said, referring to the city's financial challenges. Kim Carr, a former councilwoman and mayor, said that council members understood that once the public started to 'look under the hood,' they would find 'that the city is a hot mess,' adding: 'We're missing the point of what the City Council is supposed to do. It's not about these performative antics.' The public works director and other department heads left in recent years as the Council has rallied behind the MAGA agenda. Those opposed to the Council had their biggest moment so far last week. At a packed City Council meeting, a former N.F.L. player and resident, Chris Kluwe, called Mr. Trump's Make America Great Again movement a Nazi movement. Before he stepped up to the dais, Mr. Kluwe, who was a punter with the Minnesota Vikings, announced he was engaging 'in the time-honored American tradition of peaceful civil disobedience.' As he stood in front of the council members, he was pulled to the ground and arrested by the police. Days later, an opposition group called ProtectHB, newly energized by Mr. Kluwe's headline-making protest, gathered at a member's home for a letter-writing and public-speaking workshop over refreshments and a cheese spread. Outside, a lawn sign read: 'Chaos culture wars — and — higher costs. Are we great yet?' 'We're becoming nationally known as kind of like Nazi Central, and, as a city that depends on tourist revenue, that's not good,' said Dave Rynerson, a member of the group who has lived in Huntington Beach for 28 years. Friends from out of town have reached out to ask him what's going on in his city, he said. Council members defended their initiatives and their agenda, calling Huntington Beach a proudly red city and dismissing the outrage over the plaque as coming from a vocal anti-Trump minority. They blamed previous Councils for the deficit and said that the casual way their opponents were using the Nazi label was offensive to the Jewish voters who supported them and Mr. Trump in November. Mayor Pat Burns, who serves as one of the Council's seven members, said that national political matters had affected the quality of life in the city. 'I had a buddy who said, 'What's going on in Texas has nothing to do with what's going in Huntington Beach,'' the mayor said, referring to the Council resolution supporting the Texas deployment of the National Guard. 'I'm going, 'Like hell it does.' You think those people are staying in Texas? You don't think those migrants are sitting there saying, 'Hey, let's go to California.'' The political realignment of the Council began in 2022, when Republicans won a four-member majority. 'We had some people who said they were Republicans, but they always voted against what we wanted, so we turned a 6-1 to a 4-3,' Ms. Van Der Mark said, describing the Council's makeup before the November election, which made it 7-0. Ms. Van Der Mark keeps a giant mock-up of the library plaque in her office. Last week, it leaned against a bookshelf lined with library books — sticky notes marked the pages with what she described as pornographic material. Nearby was a framed picture of Mr. Trump with his fist in the air after his attempted assassination at a Pennsylvania rally last year. Like other public libraries across the country, Huntington Beach's library has been at the center of political division. Last year, the Council considered privatizing the library's operations, a move met with widespread opposition. And Ms. Van Der Mark led an effort to create a parent review board to remove books deemed inappropriate from the children's section of the library, including some of those she keeps in her office. The plaque's unveiling is planned for April. It's still only in the design stage; the Council has raised $8,000 in private donations to make it. The Council seemed to make an attempt at bipartisanship in the plaque's design, though the meaning was unclear. The plaque reads: 'Through hope and change our nation has built back better to the golden era of Making America Great Again!' 'Hope and change' and 'built back better' appear to be references to slogans tied to former Presidents Barack Obama and Joseph R. Biden Jr. Councilman Chad Williams, who was elected last year, said he did not view the slogans as political. He said the plaque was meant to represent the public library's moment in time. 'The golden era we're in right now is an era of making America great again,' he said. 'And so it just so happens that the 50th anniversary coincides with the era we're in.'
