INVESTMENT STRATEGIES

BlackRock is a leader in active fixed income investing

Meet Rick Rieder: Morningstar’s 2023 Outstanding Portfolio Manager

Rick Rieder, Chief Investment Officer of Global Fixed Income, was awarded the 2023 Morningstar Award for Investing Excellence, Outstanding Portfolio Manager. Rick Rieder’s consistent approach to managing strategies, like iShares Flexible Income Active ETF (BINC) & Strategic Income Opportunities has helped funds stay the course in volatile markets.

Explore fixed income solutions Explore fixed income solutions

Each year, Morningstar recognizes an Outstanding Portfolio Manager, an individual or team who has produced exceptional returns over the long term. To qualify for the award, the manager’s strategy must currently earn a Morningstar Analyst Rating of Gold or Silver for at least one vehicle and/or share class. For additional information, please visit: https://www.morningstar.com/funds/us-morningstar-awards-investing-excellence-2023-winners.

Why BlackRock for active fixed income?

Our active fixed income platform leverages a disciplined investment process that puts us in a position to deliver attractive returns in various market conditions.

$3.4
Trillion dollars in active fixed income solutions across mutual funds, ETFs, and separate accounts1
440
Global fixed income research analysts with deep market knowledge across sectors
30
Years of managing fixed income portfolios on behalf of global institutions and individual investors

1 Source: BlackRock. Assets under management as of June 30 2026. All figures are represented in USD.

Active fixed income

Boost your portfolio with an active approach

Night sky glow
Breadth of Insights

Deep Market Expertise

BlackRock’s active fixed income portfolio strategies stretch across a range of investment styles and segments of the fixed income universe.

With 21 primary investment centers worldwide, our investment teams employ an investment process which is research driven, blending disciplined portfolio construction with regular risk and performance review.

Technology lab machine
Robust Operating Platform

Fundamental risk-managed framework

BlackRock features a data-driven approach to active fixed income that combines the insights of our people with a quantitative research platform to source new alpha opportunities.

Our approach integrates global trading, portfolio management and strong in-house research capabilities, enhancing execution quality and reducing operational risk.

Satellite
Trading Expertise

Engineered for an investment edge

In an environment of reduced liquidity where corporate bond inventories at primary dealers are sharply below where they were several years ago, our capital market teams work with investment banks to source bonds directly from issuers.

Global trading capabilities provide access to opportunities and liquidity that can result in cost efficiencies.

INVESTMENT STRATEGIES

Explore our range of fixed income strategies

We offer diverse fixed income strategies to help meet our clients’ needs. Our approach is to continuously adapt to changing market conditions and search for new alpha sources globally. The platform’s investment philosophy is backed by leading technology, risk management, and deep market insights.

Active Strategies Active ETFs Investment Capabilities
Related Materials-1,Related Materials-2
Related Materials-3,Related Materials-4
Multi Column Teaser-1,Multi Column Teaser-2

Active fixed income strategies

The breadth and depth of our platform puts us in a strong position to potentially deliver attractive returns in various market environments. With a focus on alpha generation and risk management, the team uses top-down view from lead portfolio managers and bottom-up expertise from our sector specialist.

Unconstrained

BlackRock’s unconstrained fixed income strategies navigate across sectors to optimize for yield, while managing downside risk.

Total Return/Core

BlackRock’s Multi-sector Core and Core Plus strategies are designed to seek consistent, attractive active returns across all market cycles via a dynamic multi-sector approa...

Short Duration

BlackRock’s Short Duration strategies employ a fundamental, diversified and relative-value approach focused solely on the front end of the yield curve.

US Investment Grade (IG Credit)

The strategy seeks to provide diversification by focusing on relative value assessments in a process to help limit downside exposures.

US Mortgage-Backed

Founded as a mortgage-focused firm in 1988, BlackRock has invested heavily in the teams and processes required to effectively manage the asset class.

Municipals

BlackRock’s municipal bond team manages a diverse set of portfolios including national and state specific mutual funds across the credit spectrum.

Inflation-Linked Bonds (ILB)

The strategy employs a fundamental, diversified, relative-value approach that focuses on real and nominal sovereign bonds.

Emerging Markets

The dedicated Emerging Markets platform strikes to help clients efficiently capture opportunities, while muting downside volatility.

Securitized Assets

BlackRock’s Securitized Assets platform employs an investment process focused on analytics, and ongoing surveillance at both the borrower and portfolio level.

Leveraged Finance

Spanning global high yield bonds and bank loans, we use a flexible approach to seek top-down and idiosyncratic opportunities across sectors.

The performance data quoted represents past performance and does not guarantee future results. Investment returns and principal values may fluctuate so that an investor’s shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. Current performance may be lower or higher than the performance data quoted. All returns assume reinvestment of all dividend and capital gain distributions.

Strategic Income Opportunities Fund
Total Return Fund
Low Duration Bond Fund
BlackRock Credit Relative Fund
Strategic Global Bond Fund
National Municipal Fund
Inflation Protected Bond Fund
High Yield Bond Fund
Floating Rate Income Fund
iShares Flexible Income Active ETF
iShares Total Return Active ETF
iShares Short Duration Bond Active ETF
iShares AAA CLO Active ETF
iShares Securitized Income Active ETF
iShares Mortgage-Backed Securities Active ETF
BBB-B CLO Active ETF
Emerging Markets Bond Active ETF

The Morningstar RatingTM for funds, or "star rating," is calculated for managed products (including mutual funds, variable annuity and variable life subaccounts, exchange-traded funds, closed-end funds, and separate accounts) with at least a three-year history. Exchange-traded funds and open-ended mutual funds are considered a single population for comparative purposes. It is calculated based on a Morningstar Risk-Adjusted Return measure that accounts for variation in a managed product's monthly excess performance, placing more emphasis on downward variations and rewarding consistent performance. The top 10% of products in each product category receive 5 stars, the next 22.5% receive 4 stars, the next 35% receive 3 stars, the next 22.5% receive 2 stars, and the bottom 10% receive 1 star. The Overall Morningstar Rating for a managed product is derived from a weighted average of the performance figures associated with its three-, five-, and 10-year (if applicable) Morningstar Rating metrics. The weights are: 100% three-year rating for 36-59 months of total returns, 60% five-year rating/40% three-year rating for 60-119 months of total returns, and 50% 10-year rating/30% five-year rating/20% three-year rating for 120 or more months of total returns. While the 10-year overall star rating formula seems to give the most weight to the 10-year period, the most recent three-year period actually has the greatest impact because it is included in all three rating periods.

Performance data quoted represents past performance and is no guarantee of future results. Investment returns and principal values may fluctuate so that an investor’s shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. All returns assume reinvestment of dividends and capital gains. Current performance may be lower or higher than that shown. Refer to blackrock.com for most recent month-end performance.

BlackRock provides compensation in connection with obtaining or using third-party ratings, rankings, or data

iShares active ETFs
Get active today

See more active ETF solutions See more active ETF solutions

Active solutions that meet investor needs

Get the latest from Rick Rieder on global fixed income and big picture trends shaping the economy.

Helpful Links