New BlackRock ETF Signals A Strong Focus On The Texas Economy

The Texas state government made big news a few years back when it invoked sanctions on big institutional investor BlackRock, claiming the firm’s ESG (Environment, Social, Governance) based investing strategies unfairly discriminated against the state’s oil and gas energy sector. The sanctions were invoked related to a state law passed in 2021, during the height of the ESG investment boom.

But that movement has faded rapidly over the past year as oil and gas corporations have refocused their capital allocation strategies away from low carbon projects, which shareholders have noticed also largely proved to be low profit endeavors. BlackRock CEO Larry Fink has adjusted as well, removing the term “ESG” from his internal and external communications and tailoring BlackRock’s investment strategies to reflect current trends.

BlackRock Has A Renewed Focus On Texas

Most recently, Blackrock has made significant moves to re-engage in the Texas marketplace. Bloomberg reported in late March that Fink’s firm had filed to establish a Texas-focused exchange-traded fund (ETF) which would invest in companies headquartered in the Lone Star State. On Tuesday, BlackRock launched the iShares Texas Equity ETF (NASDAQ: TEXN) to be based off the Russell Texas Equity Index, which is designed to reflect the performance of Russell 3000 companies with Texas headquarters.