While global markets remain concerned about higher inflation and interest rates amid escalating tensions in the Middle East , the world's largest asset manager continues to rack up record after record.
In its second-quarter results released on Wednesday morning, July 15, BlackRock reported having reached $15.3 trillion in assets under management — the largest volume ever managed by a single asset manager in history, equivalent to 6.7 times Brazil's GDP and half of the US GDP.
The volume under management represents a growth of US$2.8 trillion compared to the same period last year and US$1.45 trillion in the quarter. Most of this quarterly expansion came from the US$1.28 trillion appreciation of the company's own portfolio — the largest quarterly gain since the first quarter of 2021, when markets were experiencing a strong post-pandemic recovery.
The appreciation was driven almost entirely by equities. In a quarter in which US stock markets rose more than 10% between April and June , BlackRock's equity portfolios appreciated by US$1.17 trillion and accounted for 91% of the total market gain.
Fixed income contributed US$32 billion, and multi-assets US$110 billion. On the other hand, digital assets were the only negative highlight, with a drop of US$8.7 billion driven by the devaluation of bitcoin.
Another portion of the growth came from net inflows into the asset manager's funds. The main entry point was ETFs, which recorded US$178 billion in inflows during the quarter.
BlackRock's equity ETFs, a global leader in the segment, raised US$110 billion. But the standout in proportional terms was its fixed-income ETFs, which attracted US$66 billion—the largest volume ever recorded by the company in this category in a single quarter.
The amount represents 5.4% of the volume of fixed income ETFs at the beginning of the second quarter, a category that ended the period with US$1.3 trillion, already considering the appreciation of the asset class.
Over the past 12 months, BlackRock's fixed income ETFs raised $210 billion, second only to the $400 billion raised by equity ETFs, which ended the second quarter with $4.7 trillion under management.
The fixed income factor
BlackRock's performance in fixed income is not an isolated phenomenon in a scenario of high interest rates and persistent volatility in the stock markets.
Recent data from Morningstar shows that May 2026 was a historic month for the American investment industry, with taxable fixed income funds registering a record inflow of US$96 billion in the month, and only the high-yield segment registering outflows.
BlackRock's main source of revenue, ETFs, grew 38% in the quarter, driven by higher assets under management, reaching US$2.6 billion. Equity ETFs accounted for US$1.99 billion of the total, and fixed income ETFs for US$443 million.
Revenue from retail clients reached US$1.3 billion, up 28% year-over-year, and institutional active management generated US$1.18 billion in the quarter, a growth of 19%.
A particular highlight was the performance fees , which jumped 224%, from US$94 million to US$305 million, driven by private market funds following the acquisition of the credit management firm HPS.
In consolidated terms, BlackRock's total revenue reached US$7.1 billion in the quarter, up 31% from the same period last year. Operating profit grew 42% to US$2.5 billion, with an adjusted operating margin of 45.9% — the highest in almost five years. Net income was US$1.9 billion, a 20% year-over-year increase, with adjusted earnings per share of US$13.91.
Investors reacted positively to the numbers. At the opening of the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday the 15th, BlackRock shares soared and, around 9:43 am local time, the shares were up 6.87%, trading at US$1,096.41.
