Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO, president and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, speaking on CNBC’s Squawk Box at the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, on January 17, 2024.
Adam Galici | CNBC
JPMorgan Chase executive director Jaime Dimon On Wednesday he called the U.S. stock market bloated and said he was more cautious than others in the business world because of the risks of deficit spending, inflation and geopolitical turmoil.
“Asset prices are a little inflated by any measure. They’re in the top 10% or 15%” of historical valuations, Dimon told CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin on the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Dimon said he was referring specifically to the U.S. stock market, which is in the midst of a multi-year bull run. The S&P 500 posted consecutive annual gains of more than 20% in 2023 and 2024, the first time this has happened in more than 25 years. Last year, Dimon even rated his actions own company expensive.
But Dimon also noted that parts of the bond market, such as sovereign debt, are “at all-time highs.”
“So yes, they are high and you need pretty good results to justify those prices,” Dimon said. “Having pro-growth strategies helps that happen, but there are also negative aspects that tend to surprise you.”
Dimon, 68, is one of the most respected voices in finance after building JPMorgan into the largest American bank by many measures, including assets and market valuation.
He has been sounding a note of caution since 2022, when he said a “hurricane” was heading toward the U.S. economy. That storm has not yet arrived, however, as the U.S. has outperformed expectations in recent years and the election of Donald Trump in November boosted hopes for what a pro-growth administration will do.
“I’m a little more cautious around a number of issues,” Dimon said Wednesday. “I’m a little cautious about deficit spending; it’s a global issue, not just an American issue,” he said. “And the related (question): ‘Will inflation go away?’ “I’m not so sure.”
The rising wave of global conflicts, including the war in Ukraine, tension in the Middle East and growing threats from China “have made me very concerned about how it will affect our world over the next 100 years,” Dimon said.
In the wide-ranging interview, Dimon expressed his support for rates about imports to the U.S. whether they bolster national security, and said he and the tech entrepreneur Elon Musk They have smoothed over a previously conflictive relationship. Dimon also said he had no intention of running for office in 2028.
