Jamie Dimon Lists Five Threats 'Under the Surface' of a Growing Economy as September Inflation Comes In Hot
The JPMorgan chief named deficits, sticky inflation, high asset prices, rising rates and geopolitics. Fox Business adds September CPI at 3.7 percent and a federal deficit near $2 trillion.
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon says the U.S. economy is still growing but that five risks are building out of sight, Fox Business reports. The story ran Oct. 19, so it is six days old. We cover it because the data around it has kept moving.
What Dimon said. In the bank's quarterly earnings release, he said the economy "continued to be fueled by strong business investment and ongoing consumer spending." Then he added: "However, large fiscal deficits, sticky inflation, elevated asset prices, rising interest rates and geopolitical conditions continue to shift under the surface." He said the forces "may be manageable," but the bank is "prepared for a wide range of outcomes." Fox notes JPMorgan, the nation's largest bank, missed analysts' profit expectations in that report.
The inflation data. September's consumer price index was released the same week. Headline CPI rose 3.7 percent from a year earlier, above the 3.6 percent economists expected. Core CPI, which leaves out food and energy, was up 2.6 percent against an expected 2.5. Fox says both figures are well above the Federal Reserve's 2 percent target, which sets up a possible rate hike before year end. The Fed's next two meetings are in late October and mid-December. Fox ties stubborn inflation partly to higher energy prices from the Iran war.
Rates and debt. Fox says longer-term Treasury rates are rising partly because the Fed raised its benchmark rate in September, and also because of larger deficits around the world and heavy corporate bond sales to fund the AI buildout. Dimon's deficit warning follows the CBO's estimate of a $1.993 trillion shortfall in fiscal 2026. Net interest costs rose $115 billion, or 11 percent.
Note for readers: the five-threat list is Dimon's own summary, not a forecast of what will happen. The inflation, Fed and deficit figures are as Fox reports them and come from the BLS, LSEG and the CBO. We did not check them against those sources.