Dimon Sees Soft Landing for Inflation From Fed ‘If We’re Lucky’

(Bloomberg) -- JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon said the Federal Reserve may be able to control inflation through interest-rate increases without jarring the economy too heavily.

“If we're lucky, the Fed will slow things down, and we'll have what they call a soft landing,” Dimon said Monday in an interview with CNBC. “It's going to be a little bit like threading a needle.”

Investors are betting the Fed will begin raising its benchmark federal funds rate in March, two years after cutting it to nearly zero at the onset of the pandemic in March 2020. A Labor Department report Friday showing the U.S. unemployment rate fell to 3.9% in December -- closing in on the 3.5% low from before the Covid-19 crisis -- bolstered those expectations.

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Still, “it's possible that inflation is worse” than the Fed thinks, and that the central bank will need to raise rates more than currently expected, Dimon said. “I'd personally be surprised if it's just four increases,” he added. “Four increases of 25 basis points is a very, very little amount, and very easy for the economy to absorb.”

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