At a glance
- Jacobs, BlackRock's head of equity ETFs, told ETF Prime host Nate Geraci that more than 40 iShares funds have each taken in over $1 billion this year, according to ETF Trends' Nov. 12 report on the episode.
- Of the $450 billion, $41 billion went into country, subsector and thematic funds, which Jacobs said has wide gaps between winners and losers and little agreement on direction.
- For advisors, the usable number is IALT's beta: about 0.3 to 0.4 to US equities on nearly $8 billion.
BlackRock's iShares ETFs took in almost $450 billion globally through the end of the third quarter, putting the firm on pace for a record year of inflows. Jacobs, BlackRock's head of equity ETFs, told ETF Prime host Nate Geraci that more than 40 iShares funds have each taken in over $1 billion this year, according to ETF Trends' Nov. 12 report on the episode.
Of the $450 billion, $41 billion went into country, subsector and thematic funds, which Jacobs said has wide gaps between winners and losers and little agreement on direction. "There's a tremendous amount of breadth in terms of interest across funds," Jacobs said. Industry-wide, global ETPs took in a record $393.1 billion in October, as ETF Daily reported, including a record $107 billion into fixed-income ETPs.
There's a tremendous amount of breadth in terms of interest across funds.Jay Jacobs, head of equity ETFs at BlackRock
For advisors, the usable number is IALT's beta: about 0.3 to 0.4 to US equities on nearly $8 billion. That lets an advisor slot it into an equity budget rather than treat it as an uncorrelated hedge-fund substitute.
IALT ranks in the top five of the more than 2,200 ETFs launched industrywide since the start of 2025. Jacobs said it is up in the mid-teens this year.
The newest equity fund is priced to attract smaller investors. The iShares Nasdaq 100 ETF (IQQ) launched in July and is closing in on $800 million on a 12 bps fee waived to 10 bps, and a share price near $25 that Jacobs said makes entry easier. Around the index BlackRock has built a premium income version targeting a 9% yield and a pair of funds that split the Nasdaq-100 into its top 30 names and the next 70.
About half the risk in the S&P 500 now comes from AI-related stocks, according to BlackRock's own analysis cited by Jacobs. BlackRock has responded with a shelf of funds rather than a single fund: the AI Innovation and Tech Active ETF (BAI) and the Future AI and Tech ETF (ARTY) cover the value chain, the Future AI Beneficiaries ETF (AIBF) holds companies adopting AI rather than building it, and narrower funds cover semiconductors, data centers, power infrastructure, minerals and metals, robots and industrial automation.
Reported by the Issuers desk from ETF Trends and ETF Daily archive: Global ETP inflows hit a record $393.1 billion in October. Published . Corrections