BlackRock's Jewell Says Market Earnings Expectations for US Stocks Are Too Optimistic

On April 10, Helen Jewell of BlackRock stated that due to the inflation impact from the Middle East conflict, the market needs to lower its expectations for corporate earnings. "If you look at the current earnings forecasts for this year, they are still in a fairly high double-digit range—15%, 16%, 17%, 18%—so there is quite a bit of room for a downward adjustment," Jewell, who serves as the Chief Investment Officer for Fundamental Equities International at the world's largest asset management firm, said in an interview. She noted that the market's stable earnings forecast for the consumer sector is "hard to justify, especially when considering interest rates and the inflation impact from the situation we are seeing in the Middle East."