NEW YORK CITY, New York: BlackRock reported stronger-than-expected second-quarter profit on July 15 as a rally in global markets and robust investor demand for its exchange-traded funds helped lift assets under management to a record US$15.34 trillion.

The world's largest asset manager attracted $192 billion in client inflows during the quarter, driven by its iShares ETF business. That compared with $130 billion in the first quarter and $68 billion a year earlier.

Assets under management rose from $13.89 trillion in the first quarter and $12.53 trillion a year earlier.

Equity products accounted for $71.6 billion of net inflows during the quarter, while fixed-income products attracted $92 billion.

"Market fundamentals are strong and well supported, with higher margins and earnings momentum catalyzed by new technology. The scale and depth of our client relationships globally have never been greater," Chief Executive Larry Fink said in a statement.

On an adjusted basis, BlackRock earned $13.91 per share for the three months ended June 30, beating analysts' average estimate of $12.59, according to LSEG.

Barclays analysts said the earnings beat was "broad-based," adding that the company's profit margins expanded more than Wall Street had expected.

BlackRock's adjusted operating margin rose to 45.9 percent during the quarter, its highest level in nearly five years.

The company also increased its planned share buybacks for 2026 to $2 billion from $1.8 billion.

The results came after major U.S. stock indexes posted their strongest quarterly gains since 2020 as investors looked past volatility linked to the conflict in the Middle East and focused on improving corporate earnings.

BlackRock has also continued expanding its private markets business through acquisitions, including infrastructure investor Global Infrastructure Partners, private credit firm HPS Investment Partners and data provider Preqin.

During the quarter, private credit generated $6 billion in net inflows, infrastructure attracted $5.2 billion and total private markets inflows reached $15.4 billion.

Fink acknowledged concerns surrounding the fast-growing private credit market but said conditions had improved.

"There was 'idiosyncratic risk' in private credit late last year. But we've seen actually a stabilization in terms of credit," Fink said. "And we're not seeing any real change in the credit quality of payments from our private investments."

BlackRock has set a goal of raising $400 billion in gross private markets capital between 2025 and 2030.