Jamie Dimon says ‘watch out’ as lofty asset prices add to economic risks: ‘My anxiety is high’
Jamie Dimon, chief executive officer of JPMorgan Chase & Co., at the 2025 IIF annual membership meeting on Oct. 16, 2025, in Washington.
Samuel Corum | Bloomberg | Getty Images
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said Monday he is worried about the U.S. economy, citing high asset prices and a competitive environment in banking that reminds him of the pre-2008 crisis years.
Dimon said in his annual speech that despite economists touting that the Trump administration’s tax and deregulation policies will boost economic growth this year: investor update He said his own tendency is to think about what could go wrong when expectations are raised.
“My view is that people are starting to get a little bit comfortable that these high asset prices and high volumes are real and we’re not going to have any problems,” said Dimon, dressed in black and wearing a corset on one hand.
Inevitably, Dimon said, the economic cycle will change, leading to a wave of lender defaults that will broadly affect lenders and often hit sectors that few people expected.
“One day there will be a cycle… I don’t know that the confluence of events will cause this cycle. I’m very concerned about that,” Dimon said. “I am not satisfied with the high asset prices. In fact, I think this increases the risk.”
Although fears about how artificial intelligence models from Anthropic and OpenAI could disrupt numerous industries, especially software companies, have roiled markets in recent weeks, the S&P 500 overall is not far from its all-time record high.
At the same time, concerns about loans to software companies at the nexus of AI concerns have rattled private lenders after Blue Owl spooked markets last week by announcing it had to sell assets to satisfy investors looking to exit one of its funds.
The episode sent shares of larger alternative asset managers plunging. Apollo, KKR And KarataşIt has led some market observers to wonder if this could be the beginning of a new rally. a wider crisis The credits have started.
Doing ‘silly things’
“There’s always a surprise in the credit cycle,” Dimon said. “The surprise has often been which sector has been hit the hardest,” he said. “In ’08, ’09 you didn’t expect utilities and phone companies, and this time it might be software because of artificial intelligence.”
Dimon also said earlier at the investor event that he supported lawmakers’ comments about private loans.
Troy RohrbaughThe co-head of the firm’s commercial and investment bank said he didn’t think the problems would likely fall into the hands of private lenders, but instead would be “more broad-based.”
“At this point, it seems like it’s a little isolated to a handful of situations, but that could change pretty easily and we’re prepared for that,” Rohrbaugh said.
In response to a question from veteran banking analyst Mike Mayo, Dimon said the current environment was similar to the three years leading up to the 2008 financial crisis, where “everybody was making a lot of money, people were benefiting, the sky was the limit.”
The JPMorgan chief said some financial companies are now “doing some stupid things” that include chasing interest income earned through lending and investment activities, but he did not name the companies doing so.
“You feel like an idiot when everyone is printing money and everyone is great…it feels really good,” Dimon said.
“And then when I think about all the factors that are happening,” Dimon added, “I take a deep breath and say, ‘be careful.'”
Dimon also addressed the perennial question of CEO succession at JPMorgan, which he built into the world’s largest bank by market value during his two-decade tenure.
Although he often gives a specific time frame for the number of years remaining as CEO, he refrained from doing so on Monday.
“I was told to say this very privately,” Dimon said, drawing laughter among the analysts in attendance. “I’m here for a few years as CEO and maybe a few more years after that as chairman of the board.”
