BlackRock broadens equity exposure, retains AI focus in portfolio shakeup

BlackRock is doubling down on stocks and tweaking its AI playbook across roughly $300 billion in model portfolios. The firm’s latest investment directions, released September 23, signal a shift from backing AI pioneers to targeting the companies actually putting artificial intelligence to work. What BlackRock is actually doing The repositioning has three main components. First, BlackRock is increasing its allocation to US large-cap equities. Second, it’s rotating its AI exposure away from the early movers and toward businesses that are adopting or benefiting from AI technologies. Third, the firm is scaling back the size of its regional tilts across developed and emerging markets. BlackRock’s own analysis found that HALO sectors, which stands for energy, utilities, industrials, and materials, accounted for just 17% of the S&P 500’s weight by late February 2026. Technology and communication services, by comparison, made up nearly 43%. BlackRock has labeled these HALO sectors as more resistant to disruption. Earlier in 2026, BlackRock had already been running equity overweights of 2-3% above benchmarks in its model portfolios. A March rebalance on what was then a $220 billion mode...