“What we’re talking about is weakening,” Fink, 72, said in an interview with the New York Economic Club, adding that he expects a slowdown in the coming months.
Fink said inflation could rise, which puts doubts about the Fed’s reductions several times this year. Fink said he had heard from airline executives that travel demand fell as an example of concerns about the peak.
“Most of the CEOs I talk to would say we might be in a recession,” Fink said.
Global stock markets were hit by the stampede of last week’s sales, eliminating trillions of dollars in value after President Donald Trump announced a series of unexpectedly sober and complex tariffs. Investors dump risks and compete to buy bonds, seeking security and betting on the Fed to lower interest rates.
“In the long run, I would say that it’s a sales opportunity than that,” Fink said. “That doesn’t mean we can’t drop another 20% from here, either.” The dollar is likely to weaken, and consumption may drop as consumers and the broader economy adapt to the scale of tariffs.
“Maximum Risk”
On Monday, the market continued to get involved, while the VIX index or fear scale rose to the level of the pandemic era. JPMorgan Chase & Co., CEO Jamie Dimon warned that without a quick resolution, it could create a “catastrophic” split in the country’s long-term economic alliance.
Even before last week’s sell-off, Fink commented on the growing economic anxiety of the economy. In his annual letter to investors last month, he said the economic unrest is more than “any time in recent memory.”
Fink said in January that we believe we are “overtaking the highs of inflation” as “the biggest risk we have globally.”
As of December 31, BlackRock managed $11.6 trillion in assets, and the company has invested nearly $30 billion in three-person acquisitions over the past year to further push the private market. The company will report first-quarter earnings on April 11.
