Nouriel Roubini, the economist known for his bearish outlook ahead of the 2008 global financial crisis, expressed optimism that US growth will remain brisk this year — though that might be a negative for stocks.
Roubini said Monday that he’s less worried these days that the US economy will slide into a recession and that he also sees diminishing chances of a so-called “soft landing,” where growth and inflation cool without a downturn.
Federal Reserve policy makers, who in December penciled in three quarter-point interest-rate reductions for this year, might end up reducing borrowing costs fewer times, he said.
“There actually is a serious possibility of what people refer to as a ‘no landing,’ that growth remains above potential and inflation remains sticky,” Roubini said on Bloomberg Television’s “Surveillance” program. “Paradoxically, the good news on growth may be bad news for the market if that implies the Fed is not going to cut as much and as soon as people expect now.”
Shifts last August and September in market expectations for Fed rate cuts led to a 10% drop in equities, said Roubini, chief executive officer of consulting firm Roubini Macro Associates LLC and a professor emeritus at New York University.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.