The Bid

Since the Global Financial Crisis, the financial services industry – and asset management in particular – has been turned on its head. As an asset manager ourselves, how do we innovate and build products that meet investors’ evolving needs? On this episode of The Bid, Patrick Olson, BlackRock’s Chief Product Officer, discusses three drivers of change to the asset management industry: technology, t...

This year, perhaps finally, is coming to a close. What are the biggest lessons we’ve learned from the markets? On this episode of The Bid, investors from across BlackRock share how the Covid-19 crisis has compared to past financial crises; the trends that were accelerated like technology and sustainability; and the resilience we saw from companies and policymakers. We hear from Kate Moore, Head of...

The energy transition is taking shape: As electricity consumption increases around the world, more and more, renewable power is replacing fossil fuels as a primary – and cheaper – source of energy. This transition has major implications for areas of private markets. On this episode of The Bid and our mini-series, “Sustainability. Our new standard,” Teresa O’Flynn, Global Head of Sustainable Invest...

When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, companies’ time horizons shrunk and surviving the months ahead became top priority. What made companies resilient through the crisis? A clear focus on purpose and on serving their employees and communities. On this episode of The Bid, Sandy Boss, BlackRock’s Global Head of Investment Stewardship, shares what it means to build resilience. She talks about how Covid-19...

We’re in a time of crisis in more ways than one. In addition to a global pandemic, we’re facing climate change and increased competition between nations. What can we learn from these crises coming together, and how do we move forward? On this episode of The Bid, we sit down with best-selling author and Pulitzer Prize winner Dr. Daniel Yergin. Dan is a renowned expert on energy, geopolitics and the...

How can we identify which companies are acting sustainably? While sustainability has made headlines this year, the real opportunity exists beyond the hype. On this episode of The Bid, Eric Van Nostrand, Head of Research for Sustainable Investments, discusses how he goes under the hood to find opportunities in sustainable investing. He walks through what it means to conduct research in sustainabili...

The COVID-19 pandemic has reshaped the healthcare sector, accelerating trends like digital health, at-home care and new methods of vaccine development. How have the virus and the upcoming U.S. election changed the way we think about investing in healthcare? On this episode of The Bid, we answer this question with three healthcare experts: Erin Xie, Lead Portfolio Manager for Health Sciences within...

The 2020 U.S. election is set to be one of the most consequential elections in modern history. With November 3rd just a few weeks away, what are the key issues we should track and how might the result impact markets? On this episode of The Bid, Mike Pyle, BlackRock’s Global Chief Investment Strategist, walks through three different scenarios to plan for, the implications for&nb...

Impact investing means investing in companies that are working to solve the world’s greatest problems. How can investors do well while doing good, and how have companies pivoted today in the face of COVID-19 and racial injustice? On this episode of The Bid and our mini-series, “Sustainability. Our new standard,” Eric Rice, Head of Active Equities Impact Investing, discusses what makes a company an...

Seventy-four percent of Chief Financial Officers expect some portion of their workforce to remain virtual forever. Stay-at-home orders have led to a 60% increase in content consumption on streaming platforms. And there’s been a 35% surge in video game sales over the past few months. These are just a few of the ways the world has changed since the coronavirus pandemic first started. And they c...

Racial injustice and inequity have come into increased focus and caused corporations to shift their behaviors. How is systemic racism impacting the workplace, and what do companies need to do to tackle these issues? On this episode of The Bid, Dr. Laura Morgan Roberts, Professor of Practice at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, and Wes Moore, CEO of the Robin Hood Foundation,...

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the expectation for companies to lead with purpose has intensified. Employees are demanding it; customers are expecting it; and communities are requiring it. So how can companies lead coming out of the crisis? On this episode of The Bid, BlackRock Chief Marketing Officer Frank Cooper sits down with Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky to talk about how Airbnb has put purpo...

At the start of the year, the BlackRock Investment Institute sets three themes for the year ahead. But the coronavirus shock has reshaped our views on the markets and investing. In short: The future is running at us, and longer-term trends like inequality and globalization need to be considered today. On this episode of The Bid, Elga Bartsch, Head of Macro Research for the BlackRock Investment Ins...

The coronavirus crisis has accelerated sustainability, bringing to light issues around the environment, our climate and company behavior. But as global economies begin to restart and reach a new normal, can sustainability accelerate recovery? On this episode of The Bid and our mini-series, “Sustainability. Our new standard,” we hear from leaders in sustainability, including Mindy Lubber, CEO and P...

Globalism is at a crossroads. Coronavirus has caused a dramatic pullback in the once-seamless transfer of technology and people across countries. As a result, companies more and more have to adapt with societies and their needs, or else get left behind. BlackRock CEO Larry Fink and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella sat down at the BlackRock Future Forum to discuss how changes in geopolitics are shaping...

If you were to invest in a company, you’d watch how it performs and take interest in how it grows over time. In the world of investment stewardship, companies take those actions on behalf of their clients. Investment stewardship involves engagement with public companies to promote positive behaviors. And this year, BlackRock has committed to being more transparent about our stewardship activities....

We entered this year with the view that there wouldn’t be an economic downturn in 2020. No one could have predicted the global pandemic that would come just a couple of months later. Since then, market volatility has been at all-time highs, unemployment has surged and there’s no question that we’re in a downturn. But one prediction we made has held true: our view was that when the next downturn hi...

The retirement landscape has been changing for some time. Before COVID-19, stopping work entirely was no longer the goal. Post-COVID-19, it may mean that stopping work won't be possible. So how should retirement savers navigate what’s next? On this episode of The Bid, BlackRock’s President, Rob Kapito, and Head of the Retirement Group, Anne Ackerley, talk about lessons learned from prior crises, s...

From hurricanes to wildfires to other extreme weather events, physical climate risk isn’t new. But the way we measure it is. Improvements in data over the past few years have allowed us to better understand why climate risk is an investment risk. On this episode of The Bid and our mini-series, "Sustainability. Our new standard," Trevor Houser, Partner at Rhodium Group, and Mary-Catherine Lader, Bl...

As the pandemic has expanded globally, it has created uncertainty about companies’ future prospects. One way to analyze this: credit. Credit is the market of bonds that companies issue to fund their growth ambitions. And there’s a lot that credit can tell us about the overall health of the global economy. On this episode of The Bid, Jimmy Keenan, Chief Investment Officer and Global Co-Head of Cred...

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated and accelerated many of the geopolitical trends already underway. On this episode of The Bid, Tom Donilon, Chairman of the BlackRock Investment Institute and former U.S. National Security Advisor, discusses four trends he’s watching – a coming storm for emerging markets, a worsening outlook for U.S.-China relations, massive state intervention and continue...

The coronavirus has spread to more than 180 countries. As the virus has progressed worldwide, what lessons can we learn from how different regions have navigated the pandemic? On this episode of The Bid, four of BlackRock’s leaders around the world share their perspectives from Hong Kong, Italy, the UK and the U.S. and touch on where we’re seeing signs of recovery, the reaction from our clients an...

The Federal Reserve in the U.S. recently cut interest rates to zero, and it isn’t the only central bank to lower rates in response to the coronavirus. But low interest rates have been a theme for longer than recent weeks; they’ve been declining since 1980. So how did we get here, and what do low interest rates and low bond yields mean for investors looking for income? On this episode of The Bid, M...

The coronavirus has set new records, from volatility in markets to the scale of the economic shutdown to the number of people working from home. But there’s also been record growth in sustainable investing. In the fourth episode of our mini-series, “Sustainability. Our new standard,” Salim Ramji, Global Head of iShares and Index Investments, discusses how the today’s market volatility has accelera...

The coronavirus has caused the world to shift, and there’s no doubt that this will continue. Healthcare companies and researchers are mobilizing to create a vaccine; technology has begun to emphasize solutions for working at home; and the focus clean energy has increased. All of these shifts can be encompassed by megatrends. These long-term societal trends are only being accelerated by the pandemi...