US facing economic ‘hurricane’ – JPMorgan

The boss of Wall Street giant JPMorgan Chase, Jamie Dimon, has warned investors that the US is facing an economic “hurricane” as the latest challenges posed by the Fed’s tightening monetary policy and the Ukraine-related crisis are unprecedented.

“That hurricane is right out there down the road coming our way,” Dimon said, speaking at a conference sponsored by AllianceBernstein Holdings on Wednesday.

“We don’t know if it’s a minor one or Superstorm Sandy. You better brace yourself,” the CEO said, adding that it’s too soon to say how intense the storm would be.

According to the head of the nation’s biggest bank, US consumers still have some six to nine months of spending power left in their bank accounts. Dimon stressed that the government’s pandemic stimulus is still padding consumers’ wallets.

“That fiscal stimulation is still in the pocketbooks of consumers. They are spending it,” he said.

Dimon also expressed concern about the conflict in Ukraine and the impact it would have on global prices for crude oil, which could eventually spike up to $175 per barrel.

“Wars go bad. They go south. They have unintended consequences,” he said, adding that the conflict is expected to further roil commodity markets across the globe, impacting the prices of oil, gas and wheat.

The top banker also expressed concerns that the US Federal Reserve is starting to unwind its bond portfolio, a process known as quantitative tightening (QT) at the same time as it is raising interest rates.

“We’ve never had QT like this, so you’re looking at something you could be writing history books on for 50 years,” Dimon said. “They do not have a choice because there’s so much liquidity in the system. They have to remove some of the liquidity to stop the speculation, reduce home prices and stuff like that.”

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