BlackRock's Rick Rieder: This is the best investing environment ever

Market Overview - Blackrock views the current investment environment as the best ever, though not necessarily meaning everything is going up [2] - Equity technicals are strong due to the amount of cash on the sidelines and buybacks relative to the IPO calendar, indicating high demand versus supply [3] - Equity volatility is low, making it cheap to own equities and hedge portfolios [5] - Markets tend to overreact to news flow, particularly in August, creating opportunities for investors [18] Fixed Income & Interest Rates - Fixed income portfolios can generate yield levels of 65% to 7% [4] - The speaker anticipates the Federal Reserve can cut rates, especially with signs of slack in the labor market [4][6] - The speaker believes the Fed funds rate can be lowered by 100 basis points, considering core CPI is running under 3% and five-year inflation break-evens are at 25% [8] - High interest rates are hurting low-income borrowers and increasing the cost of government debt [11][12] Economic Factors - Significant productivity gains are occurring due to technology investments and data utilization by large companies [13] - Inflation volatility has been incredibly low for the last 25 years, except for the pandemic period [14] - Complacency in the market is a concern, particularly in credit markets [16][17]