(Bloomberg) -- Guggenheim Partners’ Scott Minerd said markets are becoming addicted to central bank stimulus, which he said is playing a role unlike any other in history.
The unprecedented stimulus the Federal Reserve unleashed on the U.S. economy during the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as similar central bank moves, has thrust monetary policy into uncharted territory, accounting for factors such as income and gender inequality, Guggenheim’s chief investment officer said Monday at the Milken Institute Global Conference.
“For the time being we’re just addicted to this,” he said. “Central banks are functioning in a role that they were never designed to do,” he said, adding that central banks are now “running the markets.”
About 2,500 people are participating in the conference -- roughly half the number of previous years because of concerns over Covid-19. There is a Covid team walking around, clad in bright pink vests with signs reminding people to wear masks.
The conference is open to in-person and virtual attendees, a year after the rescheduled 2020 event was forced to go online by the coronavirus pandemic. The event runs through Oct. 20.
©2021 Bloomberg L.P.
