By Tom Sims and Elizabeth Howcroft
(Reuters) -The United States will continue to draw the vast majority of investment flows and the risks of a slowdown in the world's largest economy are overblown, the heads of major financial firms said at a conference in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.
U.S. stock markets have powered to record highs as huge sums of cash are plowed into the country to bet on AI, prompting some executives and central bankers to warn about the growing risks of a bubble and market correction.
Other investors worry about growing government debt under U.S. President Donald Trump and the impact of his trade tariffs.
Still, executives at the Future Investment Initiative (FII) in Riyadh spent much of their time talking up prospects for the U.S., saying it compared favourably to Europe and parts of Asia.
FUNDS RETURNING TO U.S. IN RECENT MONTHS, FINK SAYS
The CEO of BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, said money had been returning to the United States in the last two months in particular, reversing a move out of dollar-based assets earlier in the year.
"Most global investors have a very large overweight in the U.S. and that's the place to have your overweight for the next 18 months," Larry Fink said.
The CEO of Goldman Sachs, David Solomon, said the "vast majority of capital allocation" would be in dollar-based assets, and that there wasn't an obvious catalyst for an economic slowdown in the United States for the next 6-12 months.
Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman said he was confident the U.S. and China would make significant progress on agreeing a trade deal, with Trump meeting the Chinese premier this week.
Pershing Square Capital Management founder Bill Ackman played down concerns about U.S. government debt levels, noting the strength and scale of the government's assets while everyone focused on its liabilities.
(Reporting by Tom Sims in Frankfurt and Elizabeth Howcroft in Paris; Writing by Tommy Reggiori Wilkes; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
