JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon Says Inflation Likely to Persist

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon reportedly said Friday (Sept. 20) that he is skeptical that the U.S. economy will see a soft landing.

“I am a little more skeptical than other people. I give it lower odds,” Dimon said during The Atlantic Festival, Bloomberg reported Friday.

Dimon said that while inflation has come down, it can come down more and it is unlikely to go away easily, according to the report.

He has been warning for over a year that inflation could remain sticky due to deficit spending, a “remilitarization of the world” and other drivers, the report said.

Dimon’s comments come two days after the Federal Reserve lowered its benchmark interest rate by one-half percentage point. He had said before the Fed’s decision that whether the cut amounted to 25 or 50 basis points, it would not be “earth-shattering” in terms of promoting a soft landing.

“Down the road, whatever it is, we’ll deal with it,” Dimon said Friday, per the report. “Economists are used to dealing with that. It’s not a disaster.”

Dimon told CNBC on Aug. 7 that the likelihood of a soft landing was 35% to 45%.

Beyond the uncertainties tied to geopolitics and deficit spending, among other factors, Dimon said at the time that he remained “a little bit of a skeptic” when it comes to the possibility of inflation getting back to 2%.

When the Federal Reserve announced on Wednesday (Sept. 18) that it decided to lower the target range for the federal funds rate by one-half percentage point to 4.75% to 5%, the central bank said it did so because of progress on inflation and the balance of risks.

“The committee seeks to achieve maximum employment and inflation at the rate of 2% over the longer run,” the Fed said in a Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) statement announcing the decision. “The committee has gained greater confidence that inflation is moving sustainably toward 2%, and judges that the risks to achieving its employment and inflation goals are roughly in balance. The economic outlook is uncertain, and the committee is attentive to the risks to both sides of its dual mandate.”

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