LONDON (Reuters) – BlackRock Investment Institute’s (BII) global chief investment strategist said on Thursday the asset manager was not “chasing” the rally in shares seen after Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell’s latest comments.
Stock markets have been cheered by comments from Powell on Wednesday that signalled this year’s frantic pace of U.S. interest rate hikes could be about to slow.
But Wei Li, speaking at a media briefing on the 2023 outlook by BlackRock Investment Institute, said Powell’s comments also suggested that rates would stay at elevated level for a while.
“We cannot extrapolate what happens in every meeting. What really matters is when rates peak and also when rate cuts happen, and none of that has changed since the comments Powell made yesterday,” she said.
“That is why we are not chasing the rally at the moment”
She also said dollar momentum was likely to slow next year.
(Reporting by Jorgelina do Rosario and Nell Mackenzie, writing by Dhara Ranasinghe; editing by Karin Strohecker)