JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon warns ‘geopolitics is getting worse’

A year after Jamie Dimon named geopolitics as the world’s biggest risk, JPMorgan Chase’s CEO sounded the alarm again, warning that the state of global stability has gotten worse.

During his visit to India, Dimon said in an exclusive interview with CNBC-TV18 released Tuesday: “My caution is all geopolitics, which may determine the state of the economy.”

“Geopolitics is getting worse, they are not getting better. There is chance for accidents in energy supply. God knows if other countries get involved. You have a lot of war taking place right now,” he said, before referencing attacks conducted by Yemen’s Houthi rebel group that have taken place in the Red Sea.

According to the U.S. military, the Houthis have attacked at least two crude oil tankers this month. 

Geopolitical instability “is my biggest caution,” Dimon said. He also urged the U.S. to prepare for a prolonged war between Ukraine and Russia.

The interview came almost a year after Dimon had called geopolitics, after Russia’s invasion in Ukraine, the biggest risk that he sees facing the world, larger than high inflation or a U.S. recession.

Following a lengthy period of sticky inflation, the Federal Reserve last Wednesday made a jumbo rate cut, its first cut since March 2020. Traders have piled on, driving the S&P 500 to a fresh closing high on Monday.

But Dimon expressed skepticism about the U.S. economy and what markets are pricing in.

“I’m a long-term optimist, but in the short run, I’m also more skeptical of other people that say everything [are] going to be great. Markets are pricing things like they’re going to be great. Put me on the cautious side of that one,” he said.