Fink said the Greek debt crisis will be resolved as it's not in anyone's interest to have a blowup now. Greece is trying to win a 130 billion euro ($172 billion) second aid package to prevent the country's collapse, strike a deal with private creditors and remain in the euro area. European leaders in recent days stepped up pressure on Greek politicians to meet the conditions of the rescue.
"I'm very bullish on the market," he said, citing the increased liquidity from the U.S. and European central banks. "I think the market is focusing too much on noise like Greece. And yet we're going to have a lot of volatility and we're going to have to live with it."
Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos was scheduled to meet late yesterday with representatives from the so-called troika of European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund again to put final touches on terms required for the rescue package that Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos said would determine the country's ability to stick to its plan to remain in the euro zone.
The European Central Bank would be able to provide liquidity to stabilize the European markets this year, Fink said. In the U.S., he doesn't see another round of quantitative easing for at least a year.
Quantitative Easing
"The only reason that I would think we would do a quantitative easing three is if the dollar gets too strong," he said. "I think the ECB is going to bring down the value of the euro. I think the euro will break $1.20 this year."
A weak euro is going to stimulate a recovery in parts of Europe, jeopardizing some of the U.S. economic growth, he said. The U.S. did "particularly better than our estimates" because of the weakening of the dollar, driven in part by the quantitative easing, he added.
Asked if he would become the next Treasury Secretary should President Barack Obama win re-election, Fink said: "A, it's eight months, nine months away; we have to see if the president will be re-elected. B, we're going to see if the president would want me. And C, I have to ask my wife would she ever let me. Put those all together, I would say it's pretty foggy, uncertain if that would ever happen."
Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said in an interview on Jan. 25 he doesn't expect Obama to ask him to stay in office if the President is re-elected later this year.