Jamie Dimon sees good chance for a rapid U.S. economic recovery

Bloomberg reports that Jamie Dimon sees “pretty good odds” of a fast economic rebound starting in the third quarter thanks to the U.S. government’s stimulus programs and the strength of the consumer going into the pandemic.

“You could see a fairly rapid recovery,” the JPMorgan Chase & Co. chief executive officer said Tuesday at a virtual conference hosted by Deutsche Bank AG. “The government has been pretty responsive, large companies have the wherewithal, hopefully we’re keeping the small ones alive.”

Dimon, who runs the largest U.S. bank, pointed to economists’ forecasts that show unemployment spiking to around 18% this quarter, then falling to 14% in the third quarter and declining to about 10% or 11% by the end of the year.

In response to the crisis, the Federal Reserve has effectively cut interest rates to zero, pumped trillions of dollars into the economy and announced plans for nine emergency lending programs, including support for small businesses. The jobless rate more than tripled in April to 14.7% as employers cut an unprecedented 20.5 million jobs.

Dimon said he thinks the Fed did the right thing in acting quickly and with what he referred to as “increasingly strong actions.”

“This wasn’t the bazooka,” he said. “The Fed took out the whole military and applied it. Just announcing these programs reduced spreads in the market. It’s going to save a lot of small businesses” and it’s “helping people avoid stress.”

Many states have begun the process of easing restrictions on businesses put in place to slow the spread of Covid-19, and “you’re already seeing the positive effects of the opening-up taking place, at least for the economy,” Dimon said.