Dear Shareholder

Over the past several months, financial markets have been buffeted by the housing recession, the credit market unraveling and related liquidity freeze and steadily rising commodity prices. Counterbalancing these difficulties were booming export activity, a robust non-financial corporate sector and, notably, aggressive and timely monetary and fiscal policy actions.

Amid the market tumult, the Federal Reserve Board (the “Fed”) intervened with a series of moves to bolster liquidity and ensure financial market stability. Since September 2007, the central bank slashed the target federal funds rate 325 basis points (3.25%), bringing the rate to 2.0% as of period-end. Of greater magnitude, however, were the Fed’s other policy decisions, which included opening the discount window directly to broker dealers and investment banks and backstopping the unprecedented rescue of Bear Stearns.

The Fed’s response to the financial crisis helped to improve credit conditions and investor mood. After hitting a low point on March 17 (coinciding with the collapse of Bear Stearns), equity markets found a welcome respite in April, when the S&P 500 Index of U.S. stocks posted positive monthly performance for the first time since October 2007. International markets, which outpaced those of the U.S. for much of 2007, saw a reversal in that trend, as effects of the credit crisis and downward pressures on growth were far-reaching.

In contrast to equity markets, Treasury securities rallied (yields fell as prices correspondingly rose), as a broad “flight-to–quality” theme persisted. The yield on 10-year Treasury issues, which touched 5.30% in June 2007 (its highest level in five years), fell to 4.04% by year-end and to 3.77% by April 30. Treasury issues relinquished some of their gains in April, however, as investor appetite for risk returned and other high-quality fixed income sectors outperformed.

Problems within the monoline insurance industry and the failure of auctions for auction rate securities plagued the municipal bond market, driving yields higher and prices lower across the curve. However, in conjunction with the more recent shift in sentiment, the sector delivered strong performance in the final month of the reporting period.

Overall, the major benchmark indexes generated results that generally reflected heightened investor risk aversion:

Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Index performance shown for illustrative purposes only.

You cannot invest directly in an index.

As you navigate today’s volatile markets, we encourage you to review your investment goals with your financial professional and to make portfolio changes, as needed. For more up-to-date commentary on the economy and financial markets, we invite you to visit www.blackrock.com/funds. As always, we thank you for entrusting BlackRock with your investment assets, and we look forward to continuing to serve you in the months and years ahead.

Sincerely,

Rob Kapito
President, BlackRock Advisors, LLC