‘Deficits which basically aren’t going to go away as far as the eye can see,’ JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said, while warning of stagflation.
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon has issued a grim warning for the direction of the U.S. economy, saying he sees the odds of a “soft landing” as far lower than markets are pricing in while sounding the alarm on a possible bout of 1970s’ style stagflation fueled in part by the Biden administration’s massive deficit spending.
Mr. Dimon made the remarks in an April 25 interview with The Wall Street Journal, in which he warned about Americans being lulled into a false sense of confidence because the U.S. consumer appears to be in “pretty good shape” right now, stock markets are up, jobs are plentiful, and unemployment is low at 3.8 percent.
“Don’t get lulled into a false sense of security because today looks okay, tomorrow is going to be okay,” he said. “So just try to separate the two.”
While various economic metrics have held up quite well, new data released on April 25 indicate that the U.S. economy showed signs of slowing in the first quarter as inflation pressures and higher borrowing costs associated with the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate hikes weighed on the country.
The U.S. economy expanded by 1.6 percent in the first three months of the year, down from 3.4 percent in the fourth quarter, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA).
The reading fell short of the consensus estimate of 2.5 percent, with the downside surprise sending U.S. stocks into a tailspin, sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunging more than 600 points after opening bell, though it later pared those losses to around 425 points down, as of the time of reporting.
The BEA data also showed inflation rearing its ugly head again in the first quarter, rising to 3.4 percent quarter over quarter, compared to a far lower reading of 1.8 percent in the prior quarter.
