BlackRock’s Investment Institute is keeping its chips on the table for US equities, reaffirming an overweight tactical position it has held since at least December 2024. The rationale boils down to two forces: artificial intelligence spending that’s accelerating faster than most forecasters anticipated, and corporate earnings that refuse to buckle under geopolitical pressure.
The firm plans to revisit its tactical views at its upcoming Midyear Investment Forum, with an updated Midyear Outlook expected on June 30, 2026.
AI spending is doing the heavy lifting
Hyperscalers, the mega-cap cloud and tech companies pouring money into AI infrastructure, are projected to spend $610 billion on AI infrastructure by 2026. That’s up from $360 billion in 2025, representing a roughly 69% increase in a single year.
BII has framed this dynamic with a line that captures their worldview neatly: “micro factors are macro drivers.” In English: individual company-level decisions about AI investment are now large enough to move the entire economy.
