Latest news with #financialmarkets
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Coinbase Facing 'Unfavorable' Setup Ahead of Results But Long-Term Prospects Remain, Oppenheimer Says
Coinbase Global (COIN) faces an "unfavorable" setup ahead of its second-quarter results due to weak Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
BlackRock ETF Flows Hit New Record as 2Q Earnings Beat
BlackRock, Inc. (BLK) reported second-quarter adjusted earnings per share of $12.05 today, beating analyst expectations, as the company's ETF business delivered record first-half flows that helped drive revenue growth across the world's largest asset manager. The company's iShares ETF franchise attracted $85 billion in net flows during the second quarter and $192 billion year to date, according to BlackRock's earnings report released Tuesday. ETF assets under management reached $4.7 trillion, representing 38% of BlackRock's total $12.5 trillion in assets. The ETF business generated $1.9 billion in base fees during the quarter, accounting for 42% of BlackRock's total investment advisory revenue, according to the filing. This revenue stream has become increasingly important as more fund managers increase their active strategy launches. "iShares ETFs had a record first half in flows, and technology ACV growth reached a fresh high of 16%," said Larry Fink, BlackRock's chairman and CEO, in the earnings statement. "This core strength, alongside client demand for private markets, digital assets, Aperio, and our tech and data-driven systematic strategies, propelled another consecutive quarter of above-target organic base fee growth." The company's total revenue increased 13% year over year to $5.4 billion, according to the earnings report. BlackRock's assets under management rose 18% from the prior year to $12.5 trillion, though quarterly net flows of $68 billion were reduced by a single institutional client's $52 billion redemption. ETF net flows were driven by strong demand across multiple asset classes, according to BlackRock. Fixed-income ETFs attracted $43 billion in flows, while equity ETFs drew $22 billion. Digital asset ETFs added $14 billion in new assets during the quarter. ETF revenue growth has outpaced BlackRock's alternatives business in recent quarters, according to the company's financial statements. ETF base fees increased to $1.9 billion from $1.6 billion in the prior year, while alternatives revenue reached $656 million. Catherine Seifert, vice president at CFRA Research, noted in a research report that BlackRock's "market-leading ETF franchise" remains one of three key growth pillars supporting the company's premium valuation. She expects continued ETF leadership amid challenging market conditions. "We expect BLK to pursue additional bolt-on acquisitions to achieve this strategic goal and view its ability to produce above-peer organic growth enhanced by tactical acquisitions as providing a catalyst for multiple expansion," Seifert wrote, forecasting 12%-17% revenue growth for 2025. The ETF business has proven resilient during market volatility, with BlackRock's index funds maintaining 95% of assets within applicable tolerance ranges over one-year periods, according to the | © Copyright 2025 All rights reserved
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Derivative-Income Strategies Gobble Up Active Flows: GSAM
Derivative-income strategies proliferate, although sector innovation is coming incrementally, said Alyson Shupe, head of the global product strategy group for Goldman Sachs Asset Management. These strategies are gobbling up most of the active ETF inflows. Morningstar said derivative-income strategies saw over $29 billion in net flows during the first half of 2025, and it was the top category for all active ETF flows. Two of GSAM's derivative strategy ETFs, the Goldman Sachs S&P 500 Core Premium Income ETF (GPIX) and the Goldman Sachs Nasdaq-100 Core Premium Income ETF (GPIQ), have each gathered more than $1 billion in assets. ETF issuers often launch many of these strategies, so what seems like proliferation doesn't mean a different approach, she said. The difference is either in duration levels for the option or for the underlying index for the option. As the strategy matures, innovation comes incrementally, such as improving tax efficiency by paying out income at the capital gains tax rate rather than at the income tax rate, Shupe said. Covered-call strategies are also moving into the less-liquid options markets of single stocks and cryptocurrencies. Using less liquid, more esoteric options could make these types of ETFs riskier. Yet, increased trading by market makers and authorized participants begets liquidity, Shupe explained. 'It's not like this shadow market that people might have thought it was in the past,' she said. She noted that options strategies in niche markets are untested; however, she said that the ETF market 'has a really good mechanism for self-hygiene and self-correction,' adding that authorized participants will choose not to participate in certain markets if they believe there's too much risk since they bear the risk. ETF issuers will continue to launch more active products with the 'conversation' around private assets and ETFs evolving, she said. While a few private credit ETFs have launched, she said they won't proliferate unless buyers benefit from paying more for private assets in ETFs relative to buying public fixed income. As more visibility into private-market data becomes available, she expects index providers to try to replicate the return stream of private markets through liquid indexation. Index providers and others can purchase that data but would use liquid public assets to emulate the private-market return stream. 'Obviously, it's going to still carry public-market data and therefore some public-market volatility, but that's another way that you're starting to see the concept of private investing potentially weave its way into ETFs as well,' she | © Copyright 2025 All rights reserved Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
10 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Vanguard Expands Fixed-Income Menu with 3 Treasury ETFs
Apparently, Vanguard is looking to spend some quality bonding time with clients. Last week, the world's second-largest asset manager launched three government bond ETFs: the Vanguard Government Securities Active ETF (VGVT), the Vanguard Total Treasury ETF (VTG) and the Vanguard Total Inflation-Protected Securities ETF (VTP). That brings the total number of fixed-income ETFs it has launched this year to nine. Vanguard isn't alone in its efforts. Across the industry, issuers are racing to launch fixed-income products as the market environment becomes more fertile for bonds and Treasurys. 'Just about every asset manager is pushing into fixed-income,' said Daniel Sotiroff, senior analyst for Morningstar, adding that fixed-income is a massive trend but isn't talked about as much as active or options-based income strategies. READ ALSO: Tariff Fallout Hasn't Hit Markets Yet. Issuers Say That Could Change and Trump Media Files for Third Crypto ETF Fixed-income products have been a priority for the firm since Tim Buckley's tenure as CEO, but up until recently, the opportunity just wasn't there for those kinds of ETFs, Sotiroff told Advisor Upside. 'It's hard to sell a product when short-term yields are at near 0% like they were for much of the 2010s,' he said. Today, however, interest rates are hovering near the historical average and equity markets are volatile, creating 'a period where fixed-income has reemerged as a valuable diversifier in a balanced portfolio,' according to Sam Martinez, senior fixed-income product manager at Vanguard. The firm's latest fixed-income ETFs include one actively managed product and two index funds: VGVT has about 60% of its portfolio exposed to US Treasurys, while roughly 35% is allocated to agency-backed securities. It has an expense ratio of 0.1%. VTG tracks the Bloomberg US Treasury Total Return Unhedged USD Index and has exposure to short-, intermediate- and long-term maturities. Its expense ratio is 0.03%. VTP attempts to mitigate inflation risk by investing in US TIPS securities across the yield curve. It has an expense ratio of 0.05%. 'Client value is our motivation for building out our fixed-income lineup,' Martinez said, adding that nine funds Vanguard has launched this year have garnered more than $2 billion in assets. And They're Off! Asset managers have launched nearly 80 fixed-income ETFs this year alone. While the list of issuers includes industry giants like Goldman Sachs and BlackRock, it also features smaller names like Stone Ridge Asset Management, Bluemonte and Cohen & Steers. 'Everybody's been throwing their hat into the ring,' Sotiroff said. This post first appeared on The Daily Upside. To receive exclusive news and analysis of the rapidly evolving ETF landscape, built for advisors and capital allocators, subscribe to our free ETF Upside newsletter. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Coin Geek
12 hours ago
- Business
- Coin Geek
Australia's 'Project Acacia' enters next stage of testing
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... Australia's central bank announced it was moving to the next phase of its tokenized asset settlement research project, having selected the industry participants and use cases to explore how digital money and tokenization can support wholesale financial markets. In a July 10 statement, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) said that the initiative, known as 'Project Acacia,' had settled on 24 innovative use cases from a diverse selection of organizations, ranging from local fintechs to major banks, for the next stage of the project. There will be 19 pilot use cases involving real money and real asset transactions, and five proof‑of‑concept (PoC) use cases involving simulated transactions. The use cases involve a range of asset classes, including fixed income, private markets, trade receivables, and carbon credits. Project Acacia was launched in November 2024 as a joint initiative between the RBA and the Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre (DFCRC). It is also being supported by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), and the Australian Treasury. The next stage of the project seeks to test a variety of settlement assets, including stablecoins, bank deposit tokens, and pilot wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC), as well as new ways of using banks' existing exchange settlement accounts at the RBA. Several major Australian banks, including the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Australia and New Zealand Banking Corporation, and Westpac Banking Corporation, are among the pilot participants. The RBA also revealed that the pilot wholesale CBDC for testing use cases will be issued on a range of private and public‑permissioned distributed ledger technology (DLT) platforms, including Hedera, Redbelly Network, R3 Corda, Canvas Connect, and other EVM Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)‑compatible networks. 'Project Acacia represents an opportunity for further collaborative exploration on tokenised asset markets and the future of money by the public and private sectors in Australia,' said Brad Jones, Assistant Governor (Financial System) at the RBA. 'The use cases selected in this project will help us to better understand how innovations in central bank and private digital money, alongside payments infrastructure, might help to uplift the functioning of wholesale financial markets in Australia.' He added that 'ensuring that Australia's payments and monetary arrangements are fit‑for‑purpose in the digital age is a strategic priority for the RBA.' The use cases will be tested over the next six months, and a report on the project's findings is expected to be published in the first quarter of 2026. According to the RBA, the findings of this next stage of the project will support the central bank's ongoing research into how innovation in the financial system can best support the Australian economy in the digital age. The project's partner agencies praised its progression to the next testing phase. 'Project Acacia will allow industry and regulators to work together to learn more about how these use cases may reshape the financial services industry, potentially boosting efficiency and foster economic growth,' said Kate O'Rourke, ASIC Commissioner. 'ASIC sees useful applications for the technologies underlying digital assets in wholesale markets.' ASIC, Australia's top finance sector regulator, is providing regulatory relief to participants to support and streamline the project. Meanwhile, Professor Talis Putnins, Chief Scientist at DFCRC, highlighted the potential gains the project could yield. 'Potential economic gains in markets and cross-border payments could be in the order of AUD19 billion per year,' said Putnins. 'Project Acacia is a significant step towards realising these gains, by providing evidence on the forms of money and settlement models that best enable tokenised real‑world asset markets.' He added that 'the real money settlement models being tested, including issuing pilot wholesale CBDC on third-party platforms, reflects another world‑first for Australia in this rapidly evolving field.' Project Acacia: Launch and goals Launched in November 2024, the initial phase of Project Acacia involved a public consultation by the RBA, in which it sought input from ecosystem players to participate in the studies on the role of privately issued digital currencies and CBDCs in improving the tokenized asset market. A core aim of Project Acacia is experimenting with a new form of tokenized central bank money, focusing on issuance on third-party blockchain networks, rather than being issued by the central bank itself. Turning to third parties, the project posited, offers a raft of benefits, such as cross-network settlements and serving as a bridge for different assets. 'The aim is to examine how innovation in wholesale markets could be enabled by new forms of digital money and supporting infrastructure,' said RBA Deputy Governor Brad Jones when the project was announced. 'The role that tokenized asset markets could play in improving the efficiency and resilience of wholesale payments and settlements, and in enhancing cross-border payments, are areas of particular interest.' Another goal of Project Acacia was to experiment with deposit tokens, stablecoins, reserve-backed digital currency, and funds in Exchange Settlement Accounts. Now that the use cases and participant organizations have been selected, the project takes its next steps toward achieving these various goals. Watch: Richard Baker on engineering a smarter financial world with blockchain title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen="">
