BlackRock sees Omicron ‘silver lining’ and says Fed rate-hike fears are overblown
The world’s biggest money manager says the Fed will remain ‘tolerant’ of price pressures
BlackRock, the world’s biggest money manager, says investors may be too pessimistic about the effects of expected monetary tightening by the US Federal Reserve, and that the Omicron Covid-19 variant will only delay rather than derail a “powerful” restart in global economic activity.
Global markets were spooked after minutes of the US Federal Reserve’s December meeting were released last week, signalling that the world’s most influential central bank was intent on raising interest rates and winding back monetary support to the financial system as the US economy recovers. With US labour market data showing falling jobless claims and unemployment below 4% (suggesting the economy is near full employment), investors quickly began factoring in between three and four rate hikes by the Fed in 2022, prompting a sell-off in higher yielding assets such as equities and emerging market currencies...
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