While pointing to several developments that could destabilise markets, BlackRock believes that the ongoing strong run for equities is a result of declining macro risks.

The asset manager set out at the beginning of the year that a turnaround in global growth would not be necessary for investors to regain their appetite for risk assets, but that decent fundamentals would be enough. The continued environment of modestly positive fundamentals should therefore remain a market-friendly one, the firm says in an investment note.

At the same time, BlackRock lists all the well-known macroeconomic threats: the state of play in Europe, concerns over a slowdown in China, relatively modest levels of global economic growth, weakening trends in corporate profits and escalating geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.

The firm also highlights higher bond yields, but while saying that bond yields are set to keep rising on the back of good economic news, a bond bear market is not to be expected, according to BlackRock.

“Over the longer term, we do not believe that modestly higher yields should be a source of concern for stocks, especially since we believe that the rise in yields is coming as a result of improved economic conditions,” says Bob Doll, chief equity strategist of fundamental equities at BlackRock.

BlackRock’s fundamental view is that corporations remain flush with cash and are likely to engage in shareholder-friendly activities, and that stocks remain attractively valued.

At the same time, Doll says that "from an individual investor perspective, a large number of people are still underweight stocks and we have yet to see significant moves into equity mutual funds".

Earlier this year, BlackRock launched a campaign called Investing for a New World, in which the asset management giant argues that investors should get back from the sidelines because of the cost of sitting on cash.