JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon has warned of two “extraordinary” things happening today that may have “bad outcomes” for the U.S. economy. Moreover, the executive has urged investors and businesses to be prepared for higher interest rates. “I don’t think inflation will keep going down,” he noted, adding that in the worst-case scenario, you will see “a lot of people struggling.”
Jamie Dimon’s Storm Clouds
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon shared his economic outlook in an interview with Bloomberg earlier this week. Regarding the broader U.S. economy, he said:
There are two things which are extraordinary today, which may have different outcomes — think of them as storm clouds.
“We don’t know if they are going to hit, when they are going to hit, what they are going to do, so I’m not predicting that,” he added. The JPMorgan executive began talking about storm clouds hovering over the U.S. economy last year. At the time, he cautioned that it could actually be a hurricane. However, earlier this year, he clarified that he shouldn’t have used the word “hurricane.”
Nonetheless, the JPMorgan CEO shared with Bloomberg Monday: “But I’ll tell you what I worry about. One is the fiscal money being spent is so big, the largest in peacetime ever — America and kind of around the world — with very high deficits and QT we’ve never had.” He continued. “I don’t think inflation will keep going down. It may not. Therefore, rates may go higher.”
Dimon stressed: “The biggest storm cloud is geopolitical. It’s Ukraine, the humanitarian crisis. It is a war not far from here … 500,000 people have been killed. It is nuclear blackmail. It’s going to affect all global relationships in America and China, trade alliances.”
The JPMorgan boss added: “We don’t know the effect of these things. The economy, we may have a soft landing, we may have a mild recession, we may have a harder recession. Obviously, there are potential bad outcomes.”
Reiterating his recent warning that the Federal Reserve could raise interest rates to 7%, Dimon emphasized: “Be prepared for higher rates and slow growth … The worst [outcome] economically would be stagflation.” He cautioned:
Obviously, if that happens, you’re going to see a lot of people struggling.
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