BlackRock to launch Nasdaq-100 ETF as AI rally pulls investors into tech stocks
The iShares Nasdaq 100 ETF will track the flagship index of the top 100 non-financial companies listed on Nasdaq. The fund will start trading on Thursday.
The launch comes as investors continue to buy into the rally in large-cap technology stocks, driven by hopes around artificial intelligence. The Nasdaq-100 posted its best quarter since April 2020 in the three months ended June, helped by strong gains in AI-linked companies and other growth stocks.
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BlackRock’s new ETF will compete with Invesco’s Nasdaq-100 franchise, which has long dominated this part of the market through products such as the QQQ Trust Series 1 and other Nasdaq-100 ETFs. State Street also launched a Nasdaq-100 ETF last month, showing growing competition among large asset managers for investor money in tech-heavy index products.
The timing is also important because Nasdaq recently changed its criteria to allow faster inclusion of newly listed companies such as SpaceX. That has made the index more closely watched by investors looking for exposure to fast-growing technology and innovation-led companies.
“IQQ enhances our ability to offer investors access to the Nasdaq-100 with iShares ETFs — providing complementary strategies that allow them to align their portfolios with their objectives,” said Elise Terry, US head of iShares at BlackRock.The iShares Nasdaq 100 ETF will begin trading with an initial net asset value of $24 per share. That is much lower than the net asset values of Invesco’s existing funds, which stand at $722.45 and $297.45, respectively. A lower starting price can make the ETF appear more accessible to smaller investors, though the underlying exposure depends on the index it tracks.
BlackRock already has more than $41 billion in assets under management across other Nasdaq-100-linked strategies. These include the iShares Nasdaq Top 30 Stocks ETF and the iShares Nasdaq Premium Income Active ETF.
The new ETF adds to BlackRock’s push in index products at a time when investors are using ETFs to take quick and low-cost exposure to major market themes. With AI continuing to drive flows into US technology stocks, asset managers are racing to offer products tied to the Nasdaq-100.
For investors, the new fund gives another route to own a basket of the largest technology and growth companies in the US market. For BlackRock, it is a direct move into a space where Invesco has had a strong lead for years.
