The fifth annual Delivering Alpha conference concluded on Wednesday in New York City with BlackRock CEO Larry Fink and Activist Investor Carl Icahn debating activist investing.
Fink said that, while activism did have an important role in the financial world, many have also pushed companies toward buying back increasing amounts of stock. He added that this could be holding back the U.S. economy.
On the other hand, Icahn said that BlackRock's role in ETFs, along with the Federal Reserve, were pushing the equities market towards a cliff.
Also, DoubleLine's Jeffrey Gundlach said during the conference he does not believe the Fed would raise interest rates this year because they overestimated U.S. economic growth.
The conference also saw other activists make bullish calls on Macy's, Ethan Allen and American Realty Capital Properties, with the common thread being the value of their real estate.
Read the full developments below:
