iShares Marks the 20th Anniversary of Three Flagship U.S. Core Equity Funds

Three iShares Core U.S. equity exchange traded funds (ETFs) now sport track records longer than two decades. Launched in 2000, the iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (NYSE: IVV), the iShares Core S&P Mid-Cap ETF (NYSE: IJH), and the iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF (NYSE: IJR) reflect performance that spans multiple market cycles and includes the dot-com bubble of the early 2000s, the global financial crisis of 2008-09, the longest bull market in the history of U.S. stocks, and unprecedented volatility in 2020. Together, these funds have accumulated $270 billion in client assets to become the flagship U.S. equity exposures within our industry-leading $551 billion iShares Core ETF franchise.¹

“The launch of these flagship funds 20 years ago laid the foundation for our successful Core franchise, which offers all types of investors a formidable combination of performance, value and versatility,” said Armando Senra, Head of Americas iShares at BlackRock. “Not all index funds are created equal. Our clients benefit from quality index providers and precision exposures, all of which are underpinned by the full breadth of BlackRock’s investment management expertise and Aladdin, our technology and risk management platform. This combination creates an exceptional offering for clients today, tomorrow and for years to come.”

Being the market can beat the market

Strong performance of the three Core U.S. equity strategies since inception demonstrates why index investing, which was not yet mainstream when these funds came to market, is now recognized as an essential long-term strategy.

According to Standard & Poor’s S&P Indices Versus Active (SPIVA) research, each index that our Core U.S. equity ETFs seeks to track (large-, mid- and small-cap) outperformed the average actively managed peer fund over the past 20 years. As of April 30, 2020, for example, the S&P 500 index outperformed more than 89% of all large-cap U.S. actively managed mutual funds. A similar story has played out in the domestic mid-cap and small-cap markets, where S&P’s indexes outperformed 92% and 88% of actively managed funds, respectively.²

Providing more value to investors through lower expenses

iShares Core ETFs provide investors convenient tools for building resilient, long-term portfolios at low cost. Buy-and-hold self-directed investors, enterprising RIAs, and pension fund managers alike rely on Core exposures to help meet their goals, and the goals of their own clients.