00:00It's Benzinga, bringing Wall Street to Main Street.
00:02The Financial Times reported that a broker for U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth contacted
00:07BlackRock in February. According to CNBC, the broker discussed a potential multi-million dollar
00:11investment in its iShares Defense Industrials Active ETF ahead of the Iran war. The fund holds
00:17about $3.1 billion in assets and includes major defense companies among its holdings. The report
00:22said the investment did not proceed because the fund was not available to Morgan Stanley clients
00:26at the time. The ETF has fallen 12.4% over the past month. In a post on X, Pentagon
00:32spokesperson
00:32Sean Parnell called the report false, denied any contact with BlackRock, and demanded that
00:37the FT retract the article. The U.S. war with Iran has entered its fifth week with no sign
00:41of slowing as U.S. Marines deploy to the region and the Pentagon prepares for extended ground
00:45operations.
00:46For all things money, visit Benzinga.com.
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