Dimon says hard landing still possible

Jamie Dimon, chair and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, said a hard landing is still possible for the United States economy.

In an interview at the JPMorgan Global China Summit in Shanghai, Dimon was asked by CNBC’s Sri Jegarajah about the possibility of an economic hard landing and said “of course” the U.S. could see one, “how could anyone … who reads history say there’s no chance?”

He said the worst outcome for the U.S. economy would be a “stagflation” scenario, where inflation still rises, but growth slows due to high unemployment.

“I look at the range of outcomes and again, the worst outcome for all of us is what you call stagflation, higher rates, recession. That means corporate profits will go down and we’ll get through all of that,” Dimon said. “I mean, the world has survived that, but I just think the odds have been higher than other people think.”

Dimon pointed to Americans' weary attitudes about inflation. He said that even if the country were to go into a recession, most people would be “in pretty good shape.”

“However, their confidence levels are low. And that seems to be mostly because of inflation ... So, they seem to be okay,” he said, noting that relief money from the COVID-19 pandemic may have helped.

“That does not mean that you won’t have issues next year,” he admitted. “It just means like right now, it looks pretty good.”

In January, the International Monetary Fund upgraded its outlook for the world economy and said it is likely to escape a hard landing, noting resilient economic growth and slowing inflation since the pandemic.