BlackRock Inc. Chief Executive Officer Larry Fink predicts inflation in the US, which has shown hints of moderating, will persist and likely won’t go below 4% anytime soon.
(Bloomberg) — BlackRock Inc. Chief Executive Officer Larry Fink predicts inflation in the US, which has shown hints of moderating, will persist and likely won’t go below 4% anytime soon.
“I think we’re going to have stickier inflation for longer,” Fink, 70, said at Columbia University’s global energy summit Wednesday.
The comments came hours after the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the core consumer price index rose 0.4% in March from the prior month following a 0.5% gain.
In a letter last month, Fink said inflation would remain close to 3.5% or 4% over the next few years — well above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target.
The CEO said Wednesday that lost productivity is “one of the big reasons why inflation” has been higher in the past couple of years. “A big reason productivity has fallen: remote working does not work,” Fink added.
“You cannot create any horizontal connectivity,” Fink said. “Firms had to hire more people to do the same amount of work. Productivity fell.”
Earlier Wednesday, Bloomberg reported that JPMorgan Chase & Co. ordered its managing directors back into the office every weekday, ending the hybrid policy it adopted during the pandemic.
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