BlackRock's bond chief who oversees $2.3 trillion names 3 catalysts set to send stocks higher, and 3 attractive sectors to buy

• BlackRock's Rick Rieder told CNBC on Friday that he believes the stock market will go higher next year.
• He laid out three catalysts that will generate gains: greater levels of M&A activity, capital expenditure spending, and research and development.
• He also shared three attractive sectors to buy, one of them being "next level" technology stocks.

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BlackRock's Rick Rieder told CNBC on Friday that he still believes the stock market has upside, and he shared three catalysts that could send stocks higher next year.

The global chief investment officer of fixed income said companies have been "sitting on a lot of cash." Because of this, he's predicting higher levels of M&A activity, capital expenditure spending, and research and development. "All of those are pretty good catalysts for the equity market to have a good run," Rieder said.

The bond chief told investors that stocks in the "next level of technology," like semiconductors, software, and forms of data transmission companies, have upside.

He added that cyclical stocks, or stocks that gain when the economy recovers, look attractive right now. While it will take a long time for the US to reach full employment levels, Rieder said that "consumption is going to be pretty good" and "the economy can actually operate at a pretty good level."

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Rieder also said bank stocks in both the US and Europe could gain next year because they have "over reserved" during the pandemic and could see better earnings next year when they don't have to hold so much cash.

The economic recovery will be "uneven," and certain industries like leisure, transportation, and restaurants will be harder to bring back in, Rieder said. But he also said that people are "undershooting" just how much money the last stimulus added, and how much the next bill will bring to the economy.

"People don't put math to the size of the stimulus programs and think about what the real transmission is. If you put over 2 trillion in — the last stimulus — that's over 10% of GDP," he said. "You could have some pretty decent growth next year."

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