BlackRock’s Rick Rieder says this is the ‘best investing environment ever’ — he’s conveniently in the running for next Fed chairman

Economy·Fed interest ratesBlackRock’s Rick Rieder says this is the ‘best environment ever’ — he’s conveniently in the running for next Fed chairmanBy Eleanor PringleBy Eleanor PringleReporterEleanor PringleReporterEleanor Pringle is an award-winning reporter at Fortune covering news, the economy, and personal finance

Eleanor previously worked as a correspondent and news editor in regional news in the U.K

She her journalism training with the Press Association after earning a degree from the University of East Anglia.SEE FULL BIO Rick Rieder, chief investment officer of fixed income for BlackRock Inc.BlackRock fixed-income chief Rick Rieder, a reported contender for Fed chair, said the U.S. is in the “best environment ever” and urged the Fed to cut rates, potentially as soon as September

While his dovish stance aligns with President Trump’s push for easier policy, Rieder’s acknowledgment of tariff-driven inflation may test his appeal to the White House

BlackRock’s chief investment officer for global fixed income, Rick Rieder, is bullish

He says the landscape has never looked so good for and believes Jerome Powell should be cutting interest rates

Rieder also happens to be in the running for Fed chairman, according to numerous reports

While the White House will be mindful of the fact that Jerome Powell’s successor will need to be a credible economic force, President Trump has also been that the next chairman will be more dovish than the current

Trump has been waging a one-sided war against the Fed since winning the Oval Office (and indeed began criticizing Powell even before the election), aggressively lobbying the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) to cut rates

Trump has said he will name that individual shortly, potentially in a move to shift the market’s attention to the incumbent, dovish power

Rieder appears on a list of candidates in the running for that job, according to reports from CNBC and Fox

And the CIO is saying many of the things the Trump camp will want to hear

Speaking to CNBC’s ‘Closing Bell’ yesterday, Rieder said a few “extraordinary things” in the economy had convinced him that now is the “best environment ever.” “First of all the nicals and equities are crazy,” Rieder said. “[The] amount of cash on the sideline, the amount of buybacks relative to the IPO calendar—i.e. the demand versus supply—is pretty extraordinary. “Then you take the other side of it in fixed income—I think the Fed can cut rates but until then—you got yield levels, you can create a portfolio with a 6.5%, 7% yield

That’s pretty good.” Rieder added that volatility in equities is relatively low at the moment, minimizing downside risks

As well as bullish signals on the Wall Street side (a token of apval which President Trump has demonstrated is important to him) Rieder is also confident of the need to cut the base rate from its current level of 4.25% to 4.5%. “I think it’s almost a given that they cut [in September],” Rieder said. “You’re seeing some sogginess around job hires, around job openings, … more slack coming into the labor market

I still think the funds rate, you can get it down faster and more aggressively than where they are today.” Rieder did say the Fed will have to remain “respectful” of tariff costs. will this if he wins the Fed role, as they too are pricing in some level of inflation as a result of the White House’s import cost regime

It will also be a check beside his name in the eyes of analysts, who will see it as a mark of independence from the political rhetoric, which is to insist that foreign governments will “eat” the hikes

President Trump, on the other hand, won’t hearing talk of tariff inflation

In a note previously reported by Fortune, Goldman Sachs economist Elsie Peng wrote the majority of tariff costs are ly to be passed through to consumers

This sparked fury from President Trump, who urged Goldman’s CEO David Solomon to “get a new economist” or consider resigning

The base interest rate is its lever to control these two factors. with tradition, Rieder suggested the base rate isn’t that useful when it comes to controlling price rises

He justified: “The interest rate tool doesn’t do a lot today

You think how companies finance CapEx … you’re not borrowing

The banks are asset liability

The interest rate tool is not that important except for a couple of big factors

What it does to housing, and you look at mortgage applications, building permits, housing starts, new sales—it’s stuck. “The mortgage rate has to come down, you drop the funds rate, there’s some yield curve (steepening) that bably happens

And then the other side of it is the low income people who are borrowers

They are getting hurt by this, high savings older people are actually benefitting from the high rates.” BlackRock declined Fortune’s request for

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