A federal government plan to include alternative assets in 401(k)s has lifted the stock of private equity giants.
On Monday, the US Labor Department officially issued a proposal opening the door for alternative assets like private equity, credit, and cryptocurrency to be included in retirement accounts for more than 90 million Americans.
The move comes at a tenuous moment for alternative assets, which have faced a bear market in 2026.
Shares of Apollo Global Management (APO), Blackstone (BX), and KKR (KKR) all rose 4% to 5% following the news. These same stocks have been walloped in recent weeks and are down between 24% and 40% this year. (Disclosure: Yahoo is a portfolio company of funds managed by affiliates of Apollo Global Management.)
Crypto-related assets also jumped slightly. Bitcoin (BTC-USD) rose around 1% to trade near $67,000, while ether (ETH-USD) is up more than 2% as of midday Monday.
Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer said the proposal shows how retirement plans can consider a wider range of products that reflect today’s investment landscape.
She added in the release that it delivers on the president’s “promise for a new golden age by fostering a retirement system that allows more Americans to retire with dignity.”
The proposed regulation lays out how 401(k) plan managers should consider these assets in their investment lineups, which typically include stocks, bonds, and other index products. It’s a major shift in retirement investments, opening up the traditionally staid industry to more speculative and less liquid options.
The proposal follows an executive order President Trump signed last summer that paved the way for ordinary savers to have access to alternative assets, which historically have been reserved for institutions and wealthy investors.
In an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal, Chavez-DeRemer said the rule confirms that “there is no investment class or strategy that is per se unlawful for retirement plans” so long as plan managers engage in a “sound fiduciary process.”
Big money managers like BlackRock (BLK) have eyed this opportunity for over a year as a way to tap a large and fresh new source of capital. Last week, CEO Larry Fink argued that giving everyday investors more access to a range of assets, particularly those tied to artificial intelligence, is a core way to improve wealth inequality.
“BlackRock supports this and other policy initiatives that thoughtfully expand access to investments historically out of reach, enhance diversification, and improve long-term outcomes,” BlackRock CFO Martin Small said in an emailed statement about the Labor Department’s proposal.
