BLACKROCK ADVISOR CENTER

BlackRock Insights

Our insights hub provides the latest BlackRock thought leadership to help advisors navigate financial markets and stay ahead of the curve.
  • Equity

    Equity Market Outlook

    Apr 24, 2025|ByJeff ShenRaffaele SaviTony DeSpirito

    What can investors expect after the dramatic moves to start the year? Our active equity experts offer their thoughts on key themes they see affecting equity markets in the months ahead.

  • Fixed Income

    Bond market opportunities meet ETF innovation

    Apr 23, 2025|ByKaren Veraa-Perry, CFA

    Discover the opportunities currently offered in bond markets and how iShares bond ETFs can help you put cash to work, seek income and diversify your portfolio.

  • Equity

    Assess the tax benefits of direct indexing

    Apr 25, 2025|ByPatrick GeddesTaotao Cai

    Learn more about the tax benefits and considerations of direct indexing strategies

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  • Equity

    2025 Spring Investment Directions: Exposures for volatile markets

    Apr 28, 2025|ByGargi Pal ChaudhuriKristy Akullian, CFA

    2025 Spring Investment Directions outlines investment opportunities across asset classes, regions, and strategies based on our market and macroeconomic views.

  • Market Insights

    Weekly market commentary

    Economic rules can quickly bind U.S. policy changes when facing disruption, as seen in last week's trade updates. Learn more about the rules we track.

  • Equity

    Assess the tax benefits of direct indexing

    Apr 25, 2025|ByPatrick GeddesTaotao Cai

    Learn more about the tax benefits and considerations of direct indexing strategies

  • Equity

    Equity Market Outlook

    Apr 24, 2025|ByJeff ShenRaffaele SaviTony DeSpirito

    What can investors expect after the dramatic moves to start the year? Our active equity experts offer their thoughts on key themes they see affecting equity markets in the months ahead.

  • Fixed Income

    Bond market opportunities meet ETF innovation

    Apr 23, 2025|ByKaren Veraa-Perry, CFA

    Discover the opportunities currently offered in bond markets and how iShares bond ETFs can help you put cash to work, seek income and diversify your portfolio.

  • Market Insights

    The Bid – BlackRock’s investment podcast

    Apr 23, 2025|ByBlackRock

    The Bid investment podcast breaks down what's happening in the markets and explores the economy and financal forces that are changing investing. Listen now.

CAROLYN

I'm Carolyn Barnette, and I'm here with Mike Gates to talk about how we are thinking about investing through periods of market volatility. Mike, give us some of your best practices.

MIKE

You have to have a good starting point. So, you know, starting off with a diversified portfolio really matters. There was a period this year of 2025, from the start of the year through April, when the S&P 500 was down 18% from peak. If you looked at a diversified multi-asset portfolio like the benchmark of the target allocation mutual fund, 60/40 mutual fund, that portfolio, that index was down only 7% over the same period.  And that speaks to the power of diversification. This is during a period when ten year yields on the U.S. Treasury bond actually didn't go down a lot. And yet you still see a much more kind of balanced return. When you got that stock bond-- those stock bond ingredients in your portfolio

MIKE

In the Target Allocation models, we have additional drivers that go even beyond what are in those traditional benchmarks. And so you see that shock absorption as a result. 

CAROLYN

Absolutely. That is really important. And we certainly have seen the value of that because sometimes some of the best days in markets, follow some of the worst days in markets, which we have certainly experienced so far year to date. So, you know, anything else you want to add?

MIKE

Well, okay. So on this point about what happens in volatile markets, we've run some numbers. So if you look at data since 1950 for the US market. The US stock market and you look at periods of time two month periods of time where the market was down 15% or more and take all of those episodes and average up what happens afterwards on average. Here are the facts. Number one, three months later, 90% of the time stock market is higher than point when you look at it, it's down 15% or more or less than two months. Number two, the average return over the next three months is 10%. And number three, over the following 12 months, on average, the market is up 88% of the time. And the average return is 26%. So these moments when the market is down heavily 88% of the time, two months later, you're better off for having invested from a total return perspective. And I think that's really powerful.

CAROLYN

Absolutely. So certainly for longer term investors, always important to stay invested. Always important to stay invested through a diversified portfolio, diversified across and within stocks and bonds and perhaps even alternative strategies. And we also, of course, at BlackRock have a whole suite of tools available for anybody who's trying to manage volatility in the short term, whether that's using minimum volatility strategies to lower risk within their equities or whether that's making an asset allocation shift, moving into bonds or alternative strategies.

The mutual fund benchmark mentioned at the 0.31 second mark returned roughly -7.0% from December 31, 2024 to April 8, 2025. Index constituents for the mutual fund benchmark are as follows: 42% MSCI ACWI Index, 18% MSCI US Index, and 40% US Universal Index.  Index performance is for illustrative purposes only.  Index performance does not reflect any management fees, transaction costs or expenses. Indexes are unmanaged and one cannot invest directly in an index. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Index performance does not represent actual Fund performance. For actual fund performance, please visit www.iShares.com or www.blackrock.com. 

iCRMH0425U/S-4402417

Investing through market volatility

Michael Gates, CFA, Head of Model Portfolios Solutions, Americas, discusses the importance of staying invested and diversified during periods of market downturns.

  • Equity

    2025 Spring Investment Directions: Exposures for volatile markets

    Apr 28, 2025|ByGargi Pal ChaudhuriKristy Akullian, CFA

    2025 Spring Investment Directions outlines investment opportunities across asset classes, regions, and strategies based on our market and macroeconomic views.

  • Equity

    Equity Market Outlook

    Apr 24, 2025|ByJeff ShenRaffaele SaviTony DeSpirito

    What can investors expect after the dramatic moves to start the year? Our active equity experts offer their thoughts on key themes they see affecting equity markets in the months ahead.

  • Fixed Income

    Bond market opportunities meet ETF innovation

    Apr 23, 2025|ByKaren Veraa-Perry, CFA

    Discover the opportunities currently offered in bond markets and how iShares bond ETFs can help you put cash to work, seek income and diversify your portfolio.

  • Fixed Income

    Investing alongside change

    Apr 23, 2025|ByRick Rieder

    Rick Rieder shares how to invest alongside major change in markets and the economy.

  • Equity

    Tariff uncertainty: Impacts on markets and portfolios

    Apr 14, 2025|ByCarolyn Barnette

    New tariff policies are triggering volatility, leading to uncertainty in markets. Learn how investors can diversify portfolios to navigate market uncertainty.

  • Multi-Asset

    Managing cash flows and liquidity in private market portfolios

    Apr 11, 2025|ByMeghan Colarusso, CFAMichael Pensky, CFA

    Private markets have potential to enhance portfolios with long-term returns but introduce liquidity and cash flow risks. Diversifying liquid alternatives may help to mitigate these risks.

  • Equity

    Assess the tax benefits of direct indexing

    Apr 25, 2025|ByPatrick GeddesTaotao Cai

    Learn more about the tax benefits and considerations of direct indexing strategies

  • Practice Management

    Private school tuition: Engage wealthy families across generations

    Discussing strategies for paying private school tuition can help you build relationships with your clients’ heirs and retain their business in the future.

  • Defined Contribution

    Building effective participant communications

    Apr 16, 2025|ByBlackRock Retirement Perspectives

    BlackRock partnered with NARPP to help plans leverage the latest research to identify essential practices for building effective communications.

  • Equity

    Managing volatility

    Apr 03, 2025|ByRobert Hum, CAIA

    Seek to reduce volatility, while staying invested with iShares Max Buffer ETFs: innovative, options-based strategies designed to seek clearer investment outcomes.

  • Equity

    Outcome ETFs – A powerful tool for a changing world

    Mar 27, 2025|ByRobert Hum, CAIA

    Discover what is behind the growth of outcome ETFs and why they can be a powerful tool within your practice.

  • Defined Contribution

    Navigating the retirement window: Introduce more certainty to outcomes

    Mar 20, 2025|ByBlackRock Retirement Perspectives

    The “Retirement Window” is the period between 55-70 when risks are heightened and pivotal decisions shape retirement outcomes.

  • Equity

    Outcome ETFs – A powerful tool for a changing world

    Mar 27, 2025|ByRobert Hum, CAIA

    Discover what is behind the growth of outcome ETFs and why they can be a powerful tool within your practice.

  • Market Insights

    Sizing up a major macro policy pivot

    Major U.S. policy shifts are cascading globally and putting upward pressure on policy rates and bond yields. We assess the impact on the U.S. economic outlook.

  • Practice

    Women as Financial Captains

    Mar 24, 2025|ByBlackRock

    Did you know that over half of women reported working with an advisor or financial professional? Read our latest survey conducted by iShares and theSkimm for more insights on women and their priorities as financial captains.

  • Derivatives

    Improving outcomes with options/derivatives in estate planning

    Feb 24, 2025|ByBlackRock

    Learn more how derivatives-based solutions may provide more predictable investment results while expediting after-tax wealth transfer.

  • Tax

    A guide to 130/30 loss harvesting

    Dec 18, 2024|ByBlackRock

    Learn more how 130/30 loss harvesting strategy leverages long and short positions to enhance tax efficiency and improve after-tax returns for investors.

  • Alternatives

    2025 Private Markets Outlook

    Dec 10, 2024|ByBlackRock

    Learn more how private markets will grow across client segments and which asset class is expected to lead private markets growth in 2025.