Strategists at the world's largest asset manager BlackRock Inc told their financial adviser clients on Wednesday to look at cutting back on risk and lower expectations for high returns on stocks and bonds.[NEW YORK] Strategists at the world's largest asset manager BlackRock Inc told their financial adviser clients on Wednesday to look at cutting back on risk and lower expectations for high returns on stocks and bonds.
"We may get another leg-up from earnings but I would say the type of returns we experienced in the first quarter should not be extrapolated," BlackRock's chief equity strategist Kate Moore said during its quarterly US wealth advisory event, which was attended over the web by about 1,300 of its financial adviser clients.
"We just want to be conscious of the fact that for both equities and bonds, the types of returns that you've experienced - not just in 2019 but over the course of the last decade and before - are going to be difficult to replicate," said Ms Moore. US stocks have appreciated sharply in recent years, thanks in part to steps the US Federal Reserve took to resuscitate the US economy after the financial crises of 2007-09, but worries abound that investors may be in a late-cycle environment, BlackRock strategists said.Indeed, the benchmark S&P 500 stock index has gained about 16 per cent in 2019 due to monetary and fiscal stimulus efforts in China and signs the US Federal Reserve will delay further rate hikes for the time being.