The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday edition that BlackRock has reduced its U.S. stocks recommendation from overweight to neutral for the first time in more than six months because of the risk of AI volatility ahead. A Reuters dispatch to The Globe says the world's biggest asset manager simultaneously upgraded Treasuries to lock in income at lofty yields, with a bias to short-dated paper. In a note, BlackRock Investment Institute head Jean Boivin, chief strategist Wei Li and fixed-income chief investment officer Rick Rieder said the rationale for the shift was artificial-intelligence risk and what they saw as excessive expectations for rate hikes from the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank. Even though they qualified the move as "managing near-term risk" and remain optimistic on AI more broadly, the change in tack by an asset manager so bullish for so long on the overall AI story was eye-catching in its timing. Many Fed officials see AI as a significant aggravator of inflation. That view coincides with rising jitters about overcooked equity valuations and earnings projections, cross-financing within the sector, end-usage and even political pushback around data-centre building as U.S. midterm elections approach.