Reuters
Fed might not need to hike rates in May as economy slows, says BlackRock
The Federal Reserve may not need to raise interest rates further to fight inflation, as the fallout from last month’s turmoil in the banking sector and a series of recent labor data point to a slowing U.S. economy, a BlackRock executive said on Monday. Though Friday’s closely-followed Labor Department employment report showed that U.S. employers maintained a strong pace of hiring last month, it was also marked by slowing wage gains and jobs growth that was below the three, six and 12 month moving averages, said Rick Rieder, chief investment officer of global fixed income at BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager. “Last Friday’s employment report, while clearly not alarming in any way, allows investors to see more clearly through to what should be a tangibly slower set of economic conditions,” Rieder wrote in a report.
