Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan, believes the US economy could still see a “soft landing” after recent instability, but warns of several uncertainties ahead.
In a CNBC interview, Dimon said economic uncertainty is higher than usual, but he also notes that consumers have plenty of money and job opportunities, and wages are rising for low-income workers. He says rising wages are “fantastic” after decades of few real increases. The economy, according to Dimon, is “great. That’s today.” But, he says, “there are scary things for us.”
Dimon points to a number of broad reasons for the uncertainty, such as the Federal Reserve implementing quantitative tightening – shrinking its balance sheet by reducing Treasury bills and mortgage-backed securities. There are also the menacing ghosts of “Russia, Ukraine, oil, gas, war, migration, trade, China.”
The CEO did warn that the United States may not see 2% inflation again anytime soon, as consumer inflation reached 6.4% in January alone. According to Dimon, the Fed may no longer be able to control inflation, thanks to a huge amount of government spending.
Demonstrating his lack of pessimism, Dimon indicated that JPMorgan has a playbook for dealing with recessions, but the bank is not yet using it. In general, Dimon advises consumers to prepare for a prolonged state of inflation, although they can expect some normalization in interest rates.
