The assets of BlackRock, the biggest money manager in the world, reached a new high in the first quarter, but the company reported a four percent drop in earnings due to financial market volatility stoked by tariff plans from US President Donald Trump.
In the three months ending March 31, net income dropped from $1.57 billion, or $10.48 per share, a year earlier to $1.51 billion, or $9.64 per share.
As market optimism over Trump's return to the White House was followed by economic uncertainty brought on by news of U.S. tariffs on trading partners, the decrease coincided with a broader weakening of U.S. stocks in the first quarter.
"Uncertainty and anxiety about the future of markets and the economy are dominating client conversations," BlackRock's CEO and Chairman Larry Fink said.
"We've seen periods like this before when there were large, structural shifts in policy and markets - like the financial crisis, COVID, and surging inflation in 2022. We always stayed connected with clients, and some of BlackRock's biggest leaps in growth followed," he said.
The benchmark S&P 500 index had its worst start to the year since 2022, plunging 4.6 percent in the first quarter of 2025.
The quarter's total expenses increased from $3.04 billion to $3.58 billion over the previous year.
Long-term net inflows to BlackRock increased to $83 billion from $76 billion in the previous year. At $37.7 billion, down from $41.7 billion a year earlier, fixed income products accounted for the majority of the long-term inflows.
Inflows of equity products increased from $18.4 billion to $19.3 billion in the first quarter of this year.
A few days after Trump's announcement of harsh new tariffs unleashed a severe market rout, Fink indicated earlier this week that the U.S. economy may already be declining. Later, in a stunning turnaround, Trump temporarily reduced taxes on some nations, providing some respite to battered markets throughout the globe.
Following Trump's "Liberation Day" statements last week, BlackRock's shares have dropped by about 11 percent.
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But in the long run, Fink has stated that the market slump was "more of a buying opportunity than a selling opportunity" and did not present systemic issues.