BlackRock Chief Executive Officer Larry Fink said most business executives he has spoken with think the U.S. is “probably in a recession right now.”
“Obviously, markets are down 20%, some stocks are down over 30%, 40% on their high-water marks of just from January…I would say in the long run this is more of a buying opportunity than it is selling opportunity,” Fink said April 7 in a wide-ranging conversation at the Economic Club of New York.
“That doesn't mean we can't fall another 20% from here, too. But, but I do believe over the long run the vitality of the United States will persist.”
Asked if the U.S. is in a recession, Fink said, “most CEOs I talk to would say we are probably in a recession right now.”
Fink said this moment is more about geopolitical issues than systemic risk. Fink’s remarks come as S&P 500 continued to whipsaw over President Donald Trump’s tariff policy on Monday.
But Fink argued he would not be taking money off the table right now and that there is value in looking at tariffs “and how to try to make it more symmetrical… and so we'll see how this all plays out.”
Additionally, he argued that macro trends driving the future of the economy have not changed.
“I think the macro trends are not are not going to change. The need for the United States to rapidly build out AI is imperative today, as it was three months ago. Our need to invest in our infrastructure is as great as today as ever before. And so, some of the big macro trends have not changed,” he said.
Fink leads the world’s largest asset manager. BlackRock had $11.6 trillion in assets under management at the end of 2024, manages money for people in 106 different countries and has offices in 36 countries.
Asked about the first several months of Trump’s second presidency, Fink said there has been a lot of volatility and change.
“I do believe in the in the coming months… we're going to see more evidence of a slowdown in this economy,” he said, adding that companies are trying to navigate tariffs.
“Until we see how this all plays out, and then two, how much of these tariffs are going to be actually implemented, we'll see. But, I think most of America does not understand the extent of these tariffs,” Fink said.
Fink said he is “troubled” that “we are not the stabilizer as a country, we are destabilizing. And I think this is what the financial markets are trying to grapple with.”
Fink said he sees “zero chance” of the Federal Reserve cutting rates four times this year and he said it wasn’t an “unrealistic idea” that there could be zero cuts this year.
Asked about BlackRock’s bid to buy the bulk of CK Hutchison Holdings' global ports operations, including in Panama, Fink said, “it's going to be nine months of regulatory review. So we'll see how this all plays out. I'm actually pretty optimistic that we will find a solution.”
Fink, who is 72 years old, was asked about the future of his leadership at BlackRock.
“I look forward to the day when I'm not running it,” but, he said, the next generation is still saying they’re not ready yet.
“The team below us is the team that will be taking over for us in the future,” he said.
