Greece “gets so much noise from everyone, that it’s so
fascinating that it causes the typical mom and pop that are
saving not to want to invest because they’re afraid,” BlackRock Inc. President Robert Kapito
said in an interview in Miami.
“It’s really just noise because if it’s not going to be Greece today, it’s going to be someone else in the paper.”
Confrontation between Greece and Germany over the terms of a 240 billion-euro ($271 billion) bailout has swayed markets after a new government in Athens pledged to alleviate austerity measures imposed by creditors during the global financial crisis. Euro area finance ministers met Wednesday in Brussels to discuss the crisis, but did not reach a significant progress, delaying a decision till Monday.
As the world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock oversees about $4.3 trillion in institutional funds, mutual funds and passive products. Clients include central banks in Europe and pension funds in Chile and Colombia.
While problems in Greece are expected to linger, Europe’s
equities are a reasonable investment, Russ
Koesterich, BlackRock’s Chief Investment Strategist supposes. Globally, he sees
the best opportunities in Asia, citing the stimulus
provided to Japan by falling oil prices and an “ultra-accommodative” central bank.
“Japan is one of the cheapest developed markets out
there,” said Koesterich quoted by Bloomberg. “You’re seeing some change in
corporate behavior including a significant trend to buy back
stock, thereby increasing earnings per share and driving up the
return on equity of Japanese companies.”
Last year the world’s third-largest economy slid into recession, after a rise in sales taxes, which prompted Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to delay another planned increase until 2017.
