One of Wall Street’s biggest money managers has called on the Federal Reserve to rein in its programme of quantitative easing, calling the bond-buying tactics a “large and dull hammer” that has distorted markets and risks stoking inflation.
Rick Rieder, who oversees $763bn in fixed income investments for BlackRock, spoke out as the Fed debates how long to keep up the unorthodox measures it has used to stimulate the US economy. His comments add BlackRock to the growing list of Fed critics who warn of trouble ahead for the bond market.
BlackRock has been an advocate of government debt in recent years but Mr Rieder’s shift comes as the asset -manager pushes clients towards investments with less sensitivity to the effect of higher -interest rates than long-dated bonds.