March 23 (Reuters) - Asset management giant BlackRock's CEO Larry Fink urged clients to stay invested despite ongoing market volatility, and highlighted that artificial intelligence is reshaping investment strategies and the broader economy.
Global markets have been roiled in recent weeks by a confluence of geopolitical and macroeconomic shocks, including the escalating U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, which has driven sharp spikes in oil prices and disrupted key shipping routes, stoking inflation
fears and rattling investor sentiment.
At the same time, growing concerns that AI could erode the value of legacy software businesses have weighed on parts of the tech sector. These pressures are unfolding alongside signs of softening consumer spending and rising worries about an economic slowdown amid still-elevated interest rates.
"We are living through a period where things that would've defined a decade have become routine: wars with global repercussions, trillion-dollar companies, a fundamental reordering of international trade, and the advent of the most significant technology since, at least, the computer," Fink said in his annual letter to shareholders.
"Over time, staying invested has mattered far more than getting the timing right. Over the past two decades, every dollar invested in the S&P 500 grew more than eightfold."
MOUNTING QUESTIONS ON AI
Analysts say AI is rapidly reshaping industries, disrupting job roles and business models, and is poised to drive profound shifts in markets and the broader economy in the years ahead.
"One thing is clear: AI will create significant economic value. Ensuring that participation in that growth expands alongside it is both the challenge and the opportunity," Fink said.
He added AI is here to stay and remains central to strategic competition between U.S. and China.
"History suggests that transformative technologies create enormous value - and much of that value accrues to the companies that build and deploy them, and to the investors who own them."
(Reporting by Manya Saini in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)
