Its Over, page-20652

Goldilocks is dead, says BlackRock guru. Beware what comes next

James Thomson

It’s almost spooky. Each March, around the time of The Australian Financial Review Business Summit, the world (and usually financial markets) are rocked by some sort of major event.
In 2020, ours was the last major event held before the pandemic shut down the country and the world.

In 2022, the Summit was dominated by talk of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine just weeks earlier.

In 2023, the Summit was held days before the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank sent shockwaves through global financial markets.

This year, the Summit is taking place under the shadow of a more positive event: global markets have shot to record highs as falling inflation brings hopes of interest rate cuts.

Is the Summit a sort of magical magnet for big moments? Perhaps not, according to Wei Li, global chief investment strategist for financial giant BlackRock. Rather, she argues that the greater volatility that drives these events is part of a shift to a new and much more difficult environment for the global economy and financial markets.