Fed may have to hike more to fight sticky inflation, says Jamie Dimon
Jamie Dimon said the Federal Reserve may have to keep increasing its benchmark interest rate in the coming months to combat persistent inflation.
The central bank was “a day late and a dollar short” in beginning to raise rates and the rapid increases over the last 18 months were just “catching up,” Dimon said Wednesday at an event hosted by the Detroit Economic Club.
Dimon spoke just before the Fed published its decision to leave rates unchanged, though officials signaled that borrowing costs will likely stay higher for longer after one more hike this year.
“Odds are higher that they will have to go higher than they are today,” Dimon said. “I’m talking about four months from now, six months from now — that inflation will be at 4% and it won’t be coming down for a whole bunch of reasons.”
The central bank has spent much of the last 18 months fighting historic levels of inflation, which has decelerated in recent months.
In response, the Fed has slowed the pace of rate increases after aggressively pushing the federal funds rate from near zero in early 2022 to above 5%.
The longtime JPMorgan boss has been warning for more than a year that the US continues to face significant headwinds, including the ongoing war in Ukraine and other geopolitical tensions. In his annual letter to shareholders earlier this year, he called the landscape “unsettling.”
“We have a very strong economy, but don’t confuse today with tomorrow,” Dimon said on Wednesday.
