Be prepared for 7% interest rates, warns Jamie Dimon
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon issued a stark warning Monday to Wall Street: The Federal Reserve may be far from finished with its aggressive regimen of interest rate hikes in the fight against elevated inflation.
The central bank is expected to raise interest rates just one more time in November by 0.25 percentage points from its current range of 5.25%-5.50%. Dimon told Bloomberg TV that the central bank may raise rates another 1.5 percentage points, to 7%.
The federal funds rate would be the highest since December 1990 at that rate. At the beginning of the current hike regimen, rates were between 0.25% and 0.50%.
According to Dimon, the world isn’t prepared for 7% rates, as he said last week in an interview with the Times of India.
In addition, it’s a contrarian viewpoint. Fed officials predict just one more rate hike this year and one rate cut next year, based on the latest projections.
Dimon, who heads the largest bank in the country, says Americans should be prepared for a surge in interest rates.
In response to questions from his board, he always answers “yes” when asked whether interest rates could really go that high.
In addition, Dimon said he couldn’t predict how 7% interest rates would affect the economy: “We might have a soft landing, a mild recession, or a harder recession.”
Economic growth could also be slowed by a 7% rate, which would dampen consumer spending and business investment.