(Reuters) -Asset manager T Rowe Price's reported a fall in first-quarter profit from a year earlier on Friday, hurt by an outflow of funds as investors moved away from riskier assets due to tariff-related market uncertainty.

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT

U.S. President Donald Trump's erratic trade policies have unsettled the market, leaving investors waiting for greater clarity regarding the economic environment.

The tariffs have also raised concerns about rising inflation and a potential recession, prompting investors to shift away from riskier assets and towards safe-haven options such as gold.

CONTEXT

Active asset managers, such as T. Rowe Price, typically buy and sell investments more frequently than passive fund managers.

Recent investor preferences have shifted away from higher-fee active products and towards low-cost passively managed funds, resulting in increased fund outflows.

BY THE NUMBERS

Excluding one-time costs, the company earned $2.23 per share for the quarter ended March 31, compared with $2.38 a year earlier.

T Rowe's assets under management was $1.57 trillion in the first quarter, 1.6% higher than a year earlier despite $8.6 billion of net outflows.

The Baltimore, Maryland-based company's investment advisory fees, typically a percentage of the AUM, rose nearly 4% to $1.60 billion.

(Reporting by Prakhar Srivastava in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)