By Steve Gelsi
Dimon says people often get predictions about the weather and the economy wrong
JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Jamie Dimon said Wednesday he’s less certain than others that the U.S. economy may have a soft landing and avoid a recession.
The JPMorgan (JPM) CEO’s comments were part of a wide-ranging conversation, according to a New York Times live blog of his appearance at the 2023 DealBook Summit.
Read next: Fed’s Bostic says he’s more confident in his soft-landing forecast
Dimon compared the economy to the weather, saying people always make mistakes in their predictions.
In terms of other geopolitical flashpoints, Dimon said an invasion of Taiwan by China could trigger a major global depression and that the most dangerous risks across the globe right now include nuclear proliferation, another pandemic and climate change.
TikTok parent ByteDance Ltd., which has come under scrutiny by U.S. lawmakers and some states for security concerns, is one of the bank’s clients, Dimon noted.
“If they were truly bad, we would not bank them,” he said.
Dimon said he supports U.S. aid to Ukraine, adding, “That’s the front line of democracy right now for the world.”
Also read: Bill Ackman warns economy will fall off a cliff if the Fed doesn’t hurry and cut rates
As for U.S. politics, Dimon confirmed he had spoken to GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley. “Even if you’re a very liberal Democrat, I urge you, help Nikki Haley too – get a choice on the Republican side that might be better than Trump,” Dimon said, according to a video of the interview.
New York Times DealBook founder Andrew Ross Sorkin then asked Dimon if he supports the “anything but Trump” movement.
The executive replied he would never say that – because Donald Trump “might be the president, and I’ll have to deal with that, too.”
Dimon said he would serve as an adviser to any U.S. president, regardless of who they were. “I couldn’t imagine saying, ‘I’m not going to the White House because [of] who’s there,'” Dimon said.
He urged Democrats and Republicans to read up on opposing viewpoints.
“I think people have to stop denigrating each other all the time because people take a point of view that’s slightly different than yours,” Dimon said.
“We should stop talking about ‘ultra-MAGA,'” Dimon added. “I think you’re insulting a large group of people … where that somehow these people believe in Trump’s family values and they’re supporting the personal person. I don’t think that’s true.”
From the archives (May 2022): Under pressure due to inflation, Biden blasts Republicans for ‘ultra-MAGA’ plan that would ‘raise taxes on working families’
JPMorgan Chase’s stock was up by 0.7% on Wednesday.
Other featured speakers at the event included Vice President Kamala Harris, Tesla Inc. (TSLA) Chief Executive Elon Musk, former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Walt Disney Co. (DIS) Chief Executive Bob Iger and Nvidia (NVDA) President Jensen Huang, as well as Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen.
-Steve Gelsi
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
11-29-23 1601ET
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