The US Federal Reserve is unlikely to scale back its $85bn-a-month asset purchase program this year because unemployment will remain a concern and inflation won’t be too large a problem, according to strategists for the world’s largest asset manager BlackRock.

Global strategist Mike Trudel and product strategist Oscar Pulido, who help manage BlackRock's $90bn global allocation fund, doubt the US labour market will be strong enough, or inflation enough of a worry, for the Fed to taper its quantitative easing any time soon. They say there may even be further waves of bond-buying in coming years.