JP Morgan Chase & Co. Hitting The Top The JPMorgan Chase CEO's WSJ was interviewed recently with Wall Street Journal Editor-in-Chief Emma Tucker, for a range of topics.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Jamie Dimon ranked geopolitics as his top worry and said he's less optimistic about a soft landing than Wall Street in an interview on Thursday.
While Wall Street seems to be betting of a roughly 70% chance of avoiding a recession in a so-called soft landing in the economy, Dimon said he sees the odds about half that.
The green economy, the remilitarization of the world, fiscal deficits and geopolitics are all factors that could keep inflation higher for longer, he said.
"When I look at the range of possible outcomes, you can have that soft landing," Dimon said. "I'm a little more worried it may not be so soft and inflation may not quite go away as people expect. I'm not talking about this year - I'm talking about 2025 or 2026."
While the economy continues to do well for the majority of Americans due to low employment, rising home values and stronger stock prices, the threat of slow growth and inflation - stagflation - from roughly 45 to 50 years ago could return.
"It looks a little bit like the 70s to me," Dimon said. "Things looked pretty rosy in 1972. They were not rosy in 1973. Don't get lulled into a false sense of security."
Dimon said he has "enormous respect" for Jerome Powell when asked whether the Fed chairman is doing a good job as the central bank signals that it's not in a hurry to cut interest rates.
"I think the Fed was probably late in raising rates," Dimon said. "They caught up. They're probably right in watching right now. We don't know what's going to happen. They might as well wait."
Dimon declined to state a preference in presidential candidates and said the bank would work with whomever is in the White House.
Biden's economic policies are working "partially," he said, party due to the huge amounts of economic stimulus such as the Bipartisan infrastructure bill, which Dimon praised.
But the bottom 20% of wage earners in the U.S. continues to struggle.
"If you go to rural America, or inner cities, I'm not sure they feel they're being lifted up by this economy," he said.
He avoids social media but said he pulls up popular destinations such as TikTok once a year to see what's happening on them.
"I am not a fanatic on the phone....I think people should spend a little less time on that and a little more time thinking," Dimon said. "I'm not on any social media."
In technical terms, JPMorgan Chase's stock (JPM) has risen 14.43% so far in 2024 (compared to a 7.48% gain by the S&P500), hit the Upper side of Long-Term upside channel near $200 per share, able to further technical declines.
