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Market take

Podcast script_20250602
Wei Li
Global Chief Investment Strategist at BlackRock

Opening frame: What’s driving markets? Market take

Camera frame
What’s driving markets? Welcome to Market take. Each week, we’ll bring you our insights on the latest market and economic trends that are impacting investments. I’m your host, Wei Li, Global Chief Investment Strategist at BlackRock.

We just wrapped our internal semi-annual investment forum. It’s one of my favorite times of the year where the top 100 investors from across the platform, the globe and multiple strategy teams gather to debate the next six months.

Title slide: Finding opportunities in uncertainty
I will share my early impressions — three of them — before the release of our Midyear Outlook, early July.

1: Focusing on opportunity amid uncertainty

This is counterintuitive, because typically, when there’s a huge amount of uncertainty, investors do not want to take as much risk — but that’s a behavioral bias.

So, I was very happy to see a very deliberate effort to lean against that behavioral bias — to want to identify opportunities created by uncertainty, created by market dislocation.

2: An unstable macro backdrop

It used to be macro and policy making were sources of stability — and now they are sources of volatility and uncertainty, against the backdrop of persistent inflationary pressure, against the backdrop of rising debt.

So, there is greater recognition that macro is not as supportive as before.

3. The 'what' and the 'how' of risk taking

So, the 'what' — we have talked about a lot in all our regular updates.

But 'how' is very interesting. We want to have a more deliberate risk-taking framework in this environment where macro is no longer as reliable a friend as it used to be.

So, if not the macro environment, where else do we deploy our risk budget? Is it more relative value? Idiosyncratic risk taking? Is it more mega forces?

Outro: Here’s our Market take
Here’s our Market take

What we like at the moment: U.S. equities still a bright spot, and we still think that U.S. [Treasury yields] could rise higher.

More to come in our Midyear Outlook.

Closing frame: Read details: blackrock.com/weekly-commentary

For details, read our weekly market commentary.
Go to www.blackrock.com/weekly-commentary.

Thank you for tuning in. If you’ve enjoyed this episode, subscribe to Market take wherever you get your podcasts.

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Video Playlist

Market take

Podcast script_20250602
Wei Li
Global Chief Investment Strategist at BlackRock

Opening frame: What’s driving markets? Market take

Camera frame
What’s driving markets? Welcome to Market take. Each week, we’ll bring you our insights on the latest market and economic trends that are impacting investments. I’m your host, Wei Li, Global Chief Investment Strategist at BlackRock.

We just wrapped our internal semi-annual investment forum. It’s one of my favorite times of the year where the top 100 investors from across the platform, the globe and multiple strategy teams gather to debate the next six months.

Title slide: Finding opportunities in uncertainty
I will share my early impressions — three of them — before the release of our Midyear Outlook, early July.

1: Focusing on opportunity amid uncertainty

This is counterintuitive, because typically, when there’s a huge amount of uncertainty, investors do not want to take as much risk — but that’s a behavioral bias.

So, I was very happy to see a very deliberate effort to lean against that behavioral bias — to want to identify opportunities created by uncertainty, created by market dislocation.

2: An unstable macro backdrop

It used to be macro and policy making were sources of stability — and now they are sources of volatility and uncertainty, against the backdrop of persistent inflationary pressure, against the backdrop of rising debt.

So, there is greater recognition that macro is not as supportive as before.

3. The 'what' and the 'how' of risk taking

So, the 'what' — we have talked about a lot in all our regular updates.

But 'how' is very interesting. We want to have a more deliberate risk-taking framework in this environment where macro is no longer as reliable a friend as it used to be.

So, if not the macro environment, where else do we deploy our risk budget? Is it more relative value? Idiosyncratic risk taking? Is it more mega forces?

Outro: Here’s our Market take
Here’s our Market take

What we like at the moment: U.S. equities still a bright spot, and we still think that U.S. [Treasury yields] could rise higher.

More to come in our Midyear Outlook.

Closing frame: Read details: blackrock.com/weekly-commentary

For details, read our weekly market commentary.
Go to www.blackrock.com/weekly-commentary.

Thank you for tuning in. If you’ve enjoyed this episode, subscribe to Market take wherever you get your podcasts.

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BlackRock Bottom Line: 2024 Global outlook

Speaker: Wei Li, Global Chief Investment Strategist, BlackRock Investment Institute

Script:

Higher interest rates and greater volatility define the new regime we’re in. In turn, that’s creating greater dispersion of returns.

We think investors will benefit from taking a more active approach to portfolios as we head into next year. 

Here’s our three investment themes for 2024: number one, managing macro risk; number two, steering portfolio outcomes; and number three, harnessing mega forces.

BlackRock Bottom Line open

Title: BlackRock Investment Institute 2024 global outlook

Our first theme is managing macro risk. Production constraints mean central banks face tougher trade-offs between inflation and growth – they can’t respond to faltering growth like before. This leads to a wider set of outcomes and a more uncertain macro outlook.

We don’t think investors should wait for the macro environment to improve. Instead, they should look to neutralize macro exposures or be very deliberate about which risks they take.

Our second theme is steering portfolio outcomes. We believe the new regime rewards an active approach to portfolios. Greater volatility and dispersion of returns create space for investment expertise to shine – that involves being more dynamic with indexing and alpha-seeking strategies, while staying selective.

Our third theme is harnessing mega forces. We see five structural shifts reshaping markets and driving returns now and in the future. We think they have become important portfolio building blocks on their own.

The bottom line is: Going into 2024 in the new regime, we want to put money to work. We believe investors should take a more active approach to their portfolios and be deliberate in taking portfolio risk.

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Video Playlist

BlackRock Bottom Line: 2024 Global outlook

Speaker: Wei Li, Global Chief Investment Strategist, BlackRock Investment Institute

Script:

Higher interest rates and greater volatility define the new regime we’re in. In turn, that’s creating greater dispersion of returns.

We think investors will benefit from taking a more active approach to portfolios as we head into next year. 

Here’s our three investment themes for 2024: number one, managing macro risk; number two, steering portfolio outcomes; and number three, harnessing mega forces.

BlackRock Bottom Line open

Title: BlackRock Investment Institute 2024 global outlook

Our first theme is managing macro risk. Production constraints mean central banks face tougher trade-offs between inflation and growth – they can’t respond to faltering growth like before. This leads to a wider set of outcomes and a more uncertain macro outlook.

We don’t think investors should wait for the macro environment to improve. Instead, they should look to neutralize macro exposures or be very deliberate about which risks they take.

Our second theme is steering portfolio outcomes. We believe the new regime rewards an active approach to portfolios. Greater volatility and dispersion of returns create space for investment expertise to shine – that involves being more dynamic with indexing and alpha-seeking strategies, while staying selective.

Our third theme is harnessing mega forces. We see five structural shifts reshaping markets and driving returns now and in the future. We think they have become important portfolio building blocks on their own.

The bottom line is: Going into 2024 in the new regime, we want to put money to work. We believe investors should take a more active approach to their portfolios and be deliberate in taking portfolio risk.