Among the large chandeliers of the International Ballroom in the Beverly Hilton Hotel, on bars on the roof and at private parties at billionaires’ mansions, there was a mix of emotions among the financial titans collected in Los Angeles this week.
Many of the thousands of people present of the Milken Institute Global Conference – a WHOs WHO of Finance and Corporate America – remained anxious in the midst of volatile markets, continuous trade stresses and deep cuts for the federal government.
“I am a CEO, I talk to many CEOs, and there is nervousness there,” said Kamal Bhatia, President and Chief Executive of Principal Asset Management, while he was in the same stage that the Golden organizes globes.
But there was also a tangible feeling of growing optimism after a rocky start of three months in President Trump’s second term: “I am optimistic about technology, I am optimistic about the direction of the economy, I am optimistic about reducing costs,” said Tony Minella, co-founder and president of Eldridge States, a power management company. “I think there is a lot of excitement in the world right now, and it’s a fantastic time to live.”
The vote at the annual West Coast Confab repeated the vote on the financial markets.
After the unexpected high rates of Mr Trump have sent shares, there has been some lighting from the initial panic because the administration has offered concessions and promoted deal conversations that it says they will lower the rates.
The S&P 500 fell almost 20 percent in February, but since then it has returned and recovered about two -thirds of his losses.
But despite the recovery, uncertainty remains. Skeptics on the sidelines of the conference suggested that some fund managers easier to paint a rosy prospect to prevent the investors from being bucked in their funds. Others described it as more hope than belief.
“Nobody, including myself, can say how this will end,” says Ron O’hanley, chairman and chief executive of State Street. “There can be Wishful Thinking in that.”
Scott Bessent, the Minister of Finance, Set the tone On Monday morning, while he tried to calm the worries of the financiers. He started his mission the night before and, according to some of those present, organized a private dinner for a handful of investors.
Many in the audience on Monday remained hopeful that rates would relieve as trade agreements conclude, buffered by more pro-growth, pro-business policy such as tax cuts and deregulation that will come later in the year. But there was also a realization that the reality still looks very different. The business community is on hold, making companies is sleeping and the longer that continues, the worse the consequences can be.
With that doubt, many speakers at the conference noted that they looked closer to investing in Europe and other parts of the world, so that they diversified themselves from the uncertain future of the United States.
Pension funds, university donations and insurance companies, which have been investing heavily in the United States in recent years, are starting the slow process of re -provision where they will place their money in the future.
Kim Lew, president of the Columbia Investment Management Company, the donation for Columbia University, noted that although there was good reason that so many fund managers were strongly exposed to the American economy, “I think we all wish we had invested in the world worldwide,” she said.
Investors who acidify in American markets introduced in another widely discussed concern: the role of the dollar as the reserve currency of the world and its importance in supporting the $ 36 trillion debts of the government.
The consequence of trade shortages is when international investors have more dollars that have been re -invested in American assets such as the government’s fault. If investors begin to withdraw, either because of rates or geopolitics or decreasing trust in the stability of the dollar, the government’s assets to continue to finance its fault can be questioned.
“I believe that the underlying base of the dollar and the Treasury market has risen the last number of years, and we pay attention to it,” said Alan Schwartz, executive chairman of Guggenheim Partners.
Late on Tuesday afternoon, Michael Milken came on stage for a rare keynote speech. Since the conference started in 1998, he has only given two speeches – in 2000 and 2017.
Mr. Milken is credited on a large scale as the father of the high -interest bond market, after he devised a way in the 1980s to borrow from risky companies that had usually avoided banks and other financial institutions.
In 1990 he argued guilty of securities fraud and conspiracy. He served for a little less than two years from a 10 -year prison sentence and was exiled for life from the securities industry. He was forgiven by Mr. Trump in 2020.
In his keynote speech, Mr. Milken argued for the American dream and the importance of economic freedom, equality of opportunities, public health and broad access to education.
“One of the things that America has distinguished from almost any other country in the world is that you have the chance to try, and if you fail, you have the chance to try it again,” he said, adding that “very often people in our own country have forgotten how lives are changed by freedom.”
Neither immigration – neither the aggressive detention and deportations that increase immigrant communities in cities such as Los Angeles – was not a major focus of the official discussions at the Milken Institute Gathering.
But Mr. Milken chose to complete his own comments by celebrating immigrants and referring to the words in President Ronald Reagan’s last speech From the White House in 1989.
“When people think of this speech, they often think about it as an ode to our immigrants in this country and how they came to this country for the hope of a better life, and they renew each of our focus on the importance of freedom,” said Mr. Milken. “And they make important contributions to us.”
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