In Episode 275 of BlackRock’s podcast The Bid, host Oscar Pulido speaks with two BlackRock experts about the geopolitically driven “resilient economy.” The conversation covers energy security, defense technology innovation, AI sovereignty competition, and strategic nodes such as rare earths, semiconductors, and energy infrastructure, analyzing their impact on global markets.
Read originalIn Episode 274 of BlackRock’s The Bid, host Oscar Pulido speaks with Beccy Milchem, Head of Global Cash Distribution and Head of International Cash Management, about the definition of tokenized cash and how it differs from crypto, stablecoins, tokenized deposits, and tokenized money market funds. The episode also discusses how tokenization is modernizing capital markets infrastructure, and how regulation, interoperability, and adoption are shaping the pace of tokenized finance.
Read originalIn Episode 273 of BlackRock’s The Bid, host Oscar Pulido speaks with Jay Jacobs, Head of US Equity ETFs, about the spread of the AI economy from the technology sector into healthcare, manufacturing, financial services, and other industries. The conversation covers the practical value of AI adoption, as well as the physical constraints on compute expansion—including power, semiconductors, and critical materials—along with intersections among robotics, autonomous driving, digital assets, and AI investing.
Read originalIn Episode 272 of BlackRock’s The Bid, host Oscar Pulido speaks with Reid Menge, Portfolio Manager on the Fundamental Equity team, about the current state and core drivers of the space economy. The episode explores declining launch costs, advances in satellite technology, demand for AI infrastructure, and national security priorities, analyzing investment opportunities in the space economy alongside uncertainties such as execution risks and technical complexity.
Read originalIn Episode 271 of BlackRock’s The Bid, host Oscar Pulido speaks with David Rubenstein, Co-Founder of The Carlyle Group and Controlling Principal of the Baltimore Orioles ownership group, about his decision to move from private equity into sports investing. The episode also discusses the value of sports franchises to cities, the differences in leadership when returns are not purely financial, and the industry trends shaping sports investment.
Read originalIn Episode 270 of BlackRock’s podcast The Bid, host Oscar Pulido speaks with Ronald Van Loon, Portfolio Manager on the Global Fixed Income team, about the shared logic between sports and investing. The conversation explores dimensions such as hit rate, risk-reward ratio, teamwork, and process preparation, analyzing the boundary between skill and luck in fixed income portfolio management, as well as how probability, gains and losses, and repeated decision-making affect investing.
Read originalEpisode 269 of BlackRock's podcast The Bid reviews the key market themes of 2026 year-to-date, covering related discussions on geopolitics, AI infrastructure, market concentration, portfolio construction, Asian markets, digital assets, and tokenization. The episode notes that AI investment has extended into energy and physical infrastructure, shifts in market concentration are changing the characteristics of major equity indices, and portfolio construction may require a multi-scenario, more granular, and dynamic approach.
Read originalOn BlackRock's The Bid Episode 268, Tony Kim, Global Head of Technology within BlackRock's Fundamental Equity team, shares insights from his 13th technology tour of San Francisco and Silicon Valley, exploring how AI investment is extending from model development to compute, infrastructure, and physical AI. The discussion covers low-earth orbit satellite compute, autonomous trucks, and humanoid robots, analyzing how compute buildout is reshaping supply chains and how market value is shifting toward compute- and model-centric companies.
Read originalJ.P. Morgan's Making Sense podcast welcomes Helen Jewell, International CIO of Fundamental Equities at BlackRock, to discuss how to distinguish companies with sustainable profitability and high return-on-capital growth in AI trades from those driven purely by momentum. The conversation covers divergent market performance across semiconductors, storage, and software, as well as key considerations as the AI capex cycle evolves.
Read originalBlackRock The Bid Podcast Episode 267 features Oscar Pulido in conversation with Rolf Heitmeyer, Head of Industrials on BlackRock's Fundamental Equity team, exploring the drivers behind defense investment moving from the periphery to the core of capital markets. The two discuss the surge in global defense spending, shifting competitive dynamics between legacy and new contractors, and how technologies including AI-enabled systems and low-cost drones are reshaping modern warfare. The content is based on public industry data from March to April 2026 and BlackRock internal research, provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
Read originalBlackRock's The Bid podcast Episode 266 presents the Midyear 2026 Outlook, centered on the theme of scarcity and abundance in the AI era. Host Oscar Pulido speaks with Jean Boivin, Head of the BlackRock Investment Institute, about the energy, infrastructure, labor, and capital constraints brought by AI expansion. They introduce the concept of 'multi-furcation,' noting that markets are currently driven by multiple competing outcomes rather than a single baseline scenario. The episode also discusses the evolving nature of AI investment opportunities, the central role of infrastructure, the importance of tactical portfolio construction, and why investors need to rethink traditional diversification approaches.
Read originalIn this Ask Me Anything episode of BlackRock’s The Bid, host Oscar Pulido is joined by Helen Jewell, Chief Investment Officer of International Equities, and Tom Becker, Senior Portfolio Manager in the Global Tactical Asset Allocation team, to discuss what’s driving inflation today and what it means for portfolios.
Read originalEpisode 264 of BlackRock's The Bid podcast features Oscar Pulido in conversation with BlackRock Chief Operating Officer Rob Goldstein, exploring the topic of tokenization. The discussion covers the practical definition of tokenization, how it differs from cryptocurrency, the role of digital wallets, the logic of coexistence between traditional finance and digital assets, the role of blockchain in financial infrastructure, and the impact of regulation on the future development of the tokenization market.
Read originalEpisode 263 of BlackRock's podcast The Bid was recorded on-site at the Ecosperity event in Singapore, where host Oscar Pulido spoke with two guests from the energy infrastructure sector about infrastructure investment opportunities within Asia's energy transition. The discussion covered differences in infrastructure development between Asian and Western markets, the link between energy security and the energy transition, and capital flows into areas such as renewable energy, power grids, and energy storage, while also touching on key influencing factors including execution bottlenecks, approval processes, and offtake frameworks.
Read originalIn Episode 262 of BlackRock's The Bid, Oscar Pulido discusses the current state and application trends of Asian ETFs with Christian Obrist and Nick Peach, two heads from iShares Asia.
Read originalEpisode 261 of BlackRock's podcast The Bid features Oscar Pulido in conversation with Aarti Angara, Head of Global Product Solutions for Asia Pacific at BlackRock, exploring why Asia is attracting global investor attention and how investment opportunities in Asian equities and fixed income are evolving. This episode covers topics including AI-related manufacturing, domestic demand in emerging markets, shifts in Japanese corporate behavior, and the diversifying role of Asian bond markets. The content is for informational reference only and does not constitute investment advice.
Read originalIn episode 260 of BlackRock's The Bid, host Oscar Pulido speaks with Nick Nefouse, Head of Global Retirement Solutions at BlackRock, about the structural shifts in the retirement system amid the decline of traditional pensions and individuals taking on greater financial responsibility.
Read originalIn this episode of BlackRock’s The Bid, host Oscar Pulido is joined by Robbie Mitchnick, Head of Digital Assets at BlackRock, and Dan Morehead, CEO of Pantera Capital, live from the BlackRock Latin America Investment Forum. They explore the evolving landscape of crypto investing, why institutional participation is accelerating, and how investors are rethinking digital assets within diversified portfolios.
Read originalOn BlackRock's The Bid Episode 258, host Oscar Pulido speaks with Vivek Paul, Head of Portfolio Research at the BlackRock Investment Institute and UK Chief Investment Strategist, about the suitability of traditional portfolio construction frameworks amid shifting market regimes. They note that superforces such as AI investment and geopolitical fragmentation are reducing the effectiveness of static asset allocation, requiring portfolio construction to become more dynamic and more focused on underlying risk exposures. The conversation also explores the practical value of private markets, active strategies, and scenario analysis in the current market environment.
Read originalOn the latest episode of BlackRock's The Bid podcast, host Oscar Pulido speaks with Ibrahim Kanan, Head of U.S. Core Equities within BlackRock's Fundamental Equities team, about the investment value of the S&P 493. Market concentration in U.S. equities is at historically high levels, with the Magnificent Seven contributing 40% of S&P 500 earnings. As AI investment spreads across industries, earnings growth is broadening beyond mega-cap stocks to a wider set of companies. The podcast also discusses the importance of active management and stock selection in the current volatile market environment.
Read originalIn episode 256 of BlackRock's The Bid, host Oscar Pulido speaks with Jeff Rosenberg, Senior Fixed Income Portfolio Manager on BlackRock's Systematic Team, about the evolving interplay between AI and bond markets.
Read originalEpisode 255 of BlackRock's podcast The Bid was recorded on-site at the Future Proof Citywide conference in Miami, where host Oscar Pulido spoke with Jon Diorio, Head of Product and Alternative Investments for BlackRock's U.S. Wealth business. They discussed why private markets have drawn increasing attention in recent years, how access channels for individual investors are expanding, and what is driving financial advisors to increase allocations in this area.
Read originalEpisode 254 of BlackRock's podcast The Bid focuses on the diversification value of alternative investments in volatile, AI-driven markets. Hosted by Oscar Pulido, the episode features BlackRock investors and strategists discussing the allocation logic of alternative assets including private equity, private credit, infrastructure, hedge fund strategies, gold, and digital assets. The episode notes that the traditional 60/40 stock-bond portfolio framework is under pressure, and alternative investments are moving from niche allocations to core portfolio discussions.
Read originalEpisode 253 of BlackRock's The Bid features guests from the Global Emerging Markets Equity Team discussing why emerging markets are regaining global investor attention in 2026. Drawing on feedback from US and European investors and a bottom-up market perspective, the guests analyze the differentiated allocation value of emerging markets in portfolios, while noting that emerging markets remain characterized by high volatility, strong cyclicality, and significant heterogeneity.
Read originalOn BlackRock's The Bid Episode 252, host Oscar Pulido speaks with Lisa Yang, Co-Head of Consumer within BlackRock's Fundamental Equities team, to assess the state of the U.S. consumer in 2026. The conversation highlights that U.S. consumption remains broadly resilient but is K-shaped, with the highest-income groups showing the strongest spending resilience. They also discuss the impact of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs on categories such as food and apparel, as well as the transformative effect of AI-driven agentic commerce on retail media and brand discovery.
Read originalOn BlackRock's The Bid Episode 251, the discussion explores why the skilled trades are central to the next phase of infrastructure investment. With an estimated $85 trillion needed in global infrastructure over the next 15 years, demand for skilled workers such as electricians, HVAC technicians, grid specialists, and plumbers is accelerating, and the current labor market for these roles is out of balance. The episode also examines the value of apprenticeship career paths and how nonprofits, employers, unions, schools, and policymakers can collaborate to expand training capacity.
Read originalThe latest episode of BlackRock's The Bid podcast, hosted by Oscar Pulido, features Will Su from BlackRock's Fundamental Equity Team discussing the growing electricity demand driven by large-scale AI deployment and its impact on utilities, natural gas, renewable energy, and nuclear power. The episode notes that AI computing expansion is driving a structural shift in US electricity demand, with related infrastructure investment constituting one of the largest capital investment cycles in modern history.
Read originalJay Jacobs, Head of US Equity ETFs at BlackRock, discusses 2026 thematic investing trends on The Bid podcast, noting that AI investment is shifting from growth narratives to focus on usage intensity, geopolitical fragmentation is reshaping the definition of defense, and physical infrastructure is becoming a key market constraint. The discussion is based on the iShares 2026 thematic outlook and is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
Read originalEpisode 248 of BlackRock's podcast The Bid features Jaime Magyera, Head of Wealth Advisory and Retirement for the US, answering listener-submitted questions on retirement planning. The episode redefines retirement as a self-directed transition rather than a fixed endpoint, exploring core topics such as starting planning early, flexible solutions for non-traditional career paths, and the value of professional financial advice. Content references BlackRock's Retirement Observatory survey published in September 2025.
Read originalIn episode 247 of BlackRock's The Bid, host Oscar Pulido speaks with Mike Pyle, Deputy Head of Portfolio Management at BlackRock, about how hedge fund strategies work and why they are attracting attention now. Mike Pyle notes that the core objective of hedge fund strategies is typically low correlation with traditional assets for diversification, rather than simply outperforming stocks. Macroeconomic volatility since 2021 has increased the suitability of these strategies, and their flexible risk exposure management capabilities are drawing more investor interest.
Read originalEpisode 246 of BlackRock's The Bid was recorded on-site at the World Economic Forum in Davos, hosted by Oscar Pulido, with guests Philipp Hildebrand, Vice Chairman of BlackRock, and Tom Donilon. Drawing on conversations with political and business leaders, the episode analyzes shifts in the global macroeconomic and geopolitical landscape in 2026, covering adjustments in U.S.-Europe relations, economic pressures in Europe, the impact of national security on economic policy, and issues related to AI as a core force in the economy and geopolitics.
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