JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon: 6 or 7 interest rate hikes possible this year
Dimon says he sees 'a pretty good chance' of there being more than 4, as others have speculated
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon on COVID, work from home, bank surveillance
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon stresses that 'the value to being in the office is very high' and says the bank has been urging, not forcing, people to return.
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon believes the Federal Reserve could raise interest rates in 2022 more times than some have speculated, saying even a half dozen or more rate hikes might be a possibility.
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon speaks at the North America's Building Trades Unions (NABTU) 2019 legislative conference in Washington (REUTERS/Jeenah Moon/File Photo / Reuters Photos)
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| JPM | JPMORGAN CHASE & CO. | 246.25 | -3.47 | -1.39% |
JPMORGAN'S FOURTH-QUARTER PROFIT DROPS 14%
"The table is set pretty well for growth," Dimon said during the bank's earnings call on Friday, "with obviously the negative being inflation and how that gets navigated and stuff like that."
"So, my view is a pretty good chance there’ll be more than 4," Dimon went on to say. "It could be 6 or 7."
Dimon explained, "I grew up in a world where [Carter and Reagan-era Fed chief Paul Volcker] raised interest 200 basis points on a Saturday night. And this whole notion that somehow it’s going to be sweet and gentle and no one is ever going to be surprised I think is a mistake, but that does not mean we won’t have growth."
Jamie Dimon, chief executive officer of JPMorgan Chase & Co. (Photographer: Giulia Marchi/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
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Dimon's projection comes after Goldman Sachs analysts said earlier this week that the bank expects the Fed to make four interest rate hikes in 2022, and that the central bank would start reducing its balance sheet by July. Meanwhile, Bank of America anticipates rates to get bumped up three times over the year.
The Fed has been under fire for not acting sooner to curb inflation, which hit a nearly 40-year high of 7% in December on an annualized basis. The ongoing inflation surge, which Fed officials had vowed last year would be "transitory," is now adding pressure for the Fed to begin raising rates sooner rather than later to curb the rising prices.
Jerome Powell, chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, speaks during a Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee confirmation hearing in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2022. (Photographer: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
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"As we move through this year, if things develop as expected, we’ll be normalizing policy, meaning we’re going to end our asset purchases in March, meaning we’ll be raising rates over the course of the year," Fed Chair Jerome Powell told the Senate Banking Committee during his confirmation hearing on Tuesday. "At some point perhaps later this year we will start to allow the balance sheet to run off, and that’s just the road to normalizing policy."
FOX Business' Megan Henney contributed to this report.