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Tag: Jamie Dimon

  • Binance’s CZ must stay in US, Elon Musk seeks $1B for AI, and other news: Hodler’s Digest, Dec. 3-9

    Binance’s CZ must stay in US, Elon Musk seeks $1B for AI, and other news: Hodler’s Digest, Dec. 3-9

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    Top Stories This Week

    Binance founder CZ must stay in US until sentencing, judge orders

    Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao has been ordered to stay in the United States until his sentencing in February, with a federal judge determining there’s too much of a flight risk if the former crypto exchange CEO is allowed to return to the United Arab Emirates. On Dec. 7, Seattle District Court Judge Richard Jones ordered Zhao to stay in the U.S. until his Feb. 23, 2024 sentencing date. He faces up to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty to money laundering on Nov. 21 and has agreed not to appeal any potential sentence up to that length.

    House committee passes bill to ‘preserve US leadership’ in blockchain

    A United States Congress committee has unanimously passed a pro-blockchain bill, which would task the U.S. commerce secretary with promoting blockchain deployment and thus potentially increase the country’s use of blockchain technology. The act covers an array of actions the commerce secretary must take if passed, including making best practices, policies and recommendations for the public and private sector when using blockchain tech. The bill will now go to the House for a vote. If passed, it must also pass in the Senate before returning for final congressional and presidential approval.

    SEC pushes deadline to decide on Grayscale spot Ether ETF

    The United States Securities and Exchange Commission has delayed its decision on whether to approve or reject a spot Ether exchange-traded fund (ETF) offering from asset manager Grayscale. In a notice, the SEC said it would designate a longer period for considering a proposed rule change that would allow NYSE Arca to list and trade shares of the Grayscale Ethereum Trust. Grayscale first filed with the SEC to convert shares of its Grayscale Ethereum Trust into a spot Ether ETF in October, adding its name to the list of companies awaiting a decision from the regulator.

    Elon Musk’s xAI files with SEC for private sale of $1B in unregistered securities

    Elon Musk’s X-linked artificial intelligence modeler, xAI, has an agreement for the private sale of $865.3 million in unregistered equity securities, according to a filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission made on Dec. 5. The company is seeking to raise $1 billion. XAI’s product, a chatbot called Grok, has recently rolled out to X’s Premium+ subscribers. Musk announced the launch of xAI in July and claimed its goal was to “understand the universe.” 

    Bitcoin new high set for late 2024, Binance to lose top spot — VanEck

    Bitcoin will hit a new all-time high in late 2024 because of a long-feared United States recession and regulatory shifts after the next U.S. presidential election, asset manager VanEck predicts. The firm is confident that the first spot Bitcoin ETFs will be approved in the first quarter of 2024. However, it also made a gloomy prediction for the general U.S. economy. VanEck is among several firms, including BlackRock and Fidelity, that are vying for an approved spot Bitcoin ETF. VanEck also believes that the BTC halving, due in April or May, “will see minimal market disruption,” but there will be a post-halving price rise.

    Winners and Losers

    At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is at $44,402, Ether (ETH) at $2,364 and XRP at $0.66. The total market cap is at $1.65 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.

    Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers of the week are Bonk (BONK) at 203.10%, ORDI (ORDI) at 134.34% and BitTorrent (BTT) at 114.32%. 

    The top three altcoin losers of the week are Maker (MKR) at -6.48%, UNUS SED LEO (LEO)  at -6.22% and Kaspa (KAS) at 4.98%.

    For more info on crypto prices, make sure to read Cointelegraph’s market analysis

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    Monero-Mining Death Metal Band from 2077 Warns Humans on Lizard People Extinction Scheme


    Features

    ZK-rollups are ‘the endgame’ for scaling blockchains: Polygon Miden founder

    Most Memorable Quotations

    “The expected approval of the ETF will be positive news for the crypto market, likely leading to significant growth.”

    Adam Berker, senior legal counsel at Mercuryo

    “The only true use case for it [crypto] is criminals, drug traffickers, money laundering, tax avoidance.”

    Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase

    “Jamie Dimon is in no position to criticize Bitcoin with this sort of track record.”

    Gabor Gurbacs, strategy adviser at VanEck

    “So, for us, I think Bitcoin is our central bank. With that in mind, I think of Ethereum as our investment bank.”

    Robby Yung, CEO of Animoca Brands

    “The ETF is certainly a key driver in sentiment.”

    Jon de Wet, investment chief of Zerocap

    “It takes a community and the whole industry to figure out how to better educate people. That’s the hard part. It’s not a technology issue; it’s an operational problem.”

    Eowyn Chen, CEO of Trust Wallet

    Prediction of the week

    ‘Early bull market’ — Bitcoin price preps 1st ever weekly golden cross

    Bitcoin is lining up an “early bull market” as a unique chart feature plays out for the first time in history.

    In a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Dec. 7, entrepreneur Alistair Milne noted that should current performance continue, Bitcoin will witness a crossover of two weekly moving averages (MAs), which have never delivered such a bull signal before. 

    The 50-week and 200-week MAs are key trendlines for Bitcoin traders and analysts alike. The latter is the ultimate bear market support level, and it has so far never decreased in value.

    BTC price strength is on the way to taking the 50-week MA trendline above the 200-week counterpart. Known as a “golden cross,” on lower timeframes, this is considered a classic bullish signal, and for Milne, the impetus is that considerable upside could be in store should the phenomenon play out. 

    “The 50-week moving average will now soon cross back above the 200-week MA making a ‘golden cross’ for the 1st time. QED: Early bull market,” he wrote.

    FUD of the Week

    Crypto is for criminals? JPMorgan has been fined $39B and has its own token

    JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon is being criticized by the crypto community after claiming Bitcoin and cryptocurrency’s “only true use case” is to facilitate crime. However, according to Good Jobs First’s violation tracker, JPMorgan is the second-largest penalized bank, having paid $39.3 billion in fines across 272 violations since 2000. About $38 billion of these fines came under Dimon’s watch, who has been CEO since 2005.

    British regulator adds Justin Sun-linked Poloniex to warning list after $100M hack

    The United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has added crypto exchange Poloniex to its warning list of non-authorized companies. The Seychelles-based exchange is one of the three companies owned by or affiliated with entrepreneur Justin Sun that have suffered four hacks in the last two months. The warning to Poloniex was published on the FCA’s website on Dec. 6. It doesn’t offer a reason but says that “firms and individuals cannot promote financial services in the UK without the necessary authorization or approval.”

    US senators target crypto in bill enforcing sanctions on terrorist groups

    A bipartisan group of lawmakers in the United States Senate introduced legislation aimed at countering cryptocurrency’s role in financing terrorism, explicitly citing the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on Israel. The bill would expand U.S. sanctions to include parties funding terrorist organizations with cryptocurrency or fiat. According to Senator Mitt Romney, the legislation would allow the U.S. Treasury Department to go after “emerging threats involving digital assets.”

    Read also


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    Can blockchain solve its oracle problem?


    Features

    Cleaning up crypto: How much enforcement is too much?

    Top Magazine Pieces of the Week

    Lawmakers’ fear and doubt drives proposed crypto regulations in US

    If the Digital Asset Anti-Money Laundering Act were to become law, many cryptocurrency providers would have to learn how to comply with the same regulations as traditional financial institutions.

    Expect ‘records broken’ by Bitcoin ETF: Brett Harrison (ex-FTX US), X Hall of Flame

    Brett Harrison taught a promising young Sam Bankman-Fried programming for traders at Jane Street, but wasn’t so impressed with the man SBF became.

    Web3 Gamer: Games need bots? Illuvium CEO admits ‘it’s tough,’ 42X upside

    Games overrun with bots just show bot owners care, claims Pixels founder. Plus we review Galaxy Fight Club, chat to Illuvium’s CEO and more.

    Editorial Staff

    Cointelegraph Magazine writers and reporters contributed to this article.

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    Cointelegraph by Editorial Staff

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  • CEO Trashes Crypto – Again – And Warns Of Ban: Here's Why

    CEO Trashes Crypto – Again – And Warns Of Ban: Here's Why

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    In a fiery declaration that reverberated through the financial landscape, JPMorgan Chase’s formidable CEO, Jamie Dimon, once again launched a verbal assault on crypto.

    Dimon, well-known for speaking his mind, straightforwardly called for a complete ban on digital currencies, linking them to criminal activities without holding back.

    The CEO didn’t mince words at a Senate hearing alongside seven other big bank bosses:

    “If I was the government, I’d close it down.”

    In response to a question from Senator Elizabeth Warren, he stated that he was adamantly against all forms of crypto, including bitcoin.

    Dimon expressed worries that terrorists, drug dealers, and rogue states would use them as a means of finance and declared he would shut it down if he were in charge.

    Even though Dimon’s bank is deeply engaged in blockchain—the technology that powers the $1.6 trillion cryptocurrency industry—his comments are the most recent assault against the industry.

    Dimon Bashes Crypto

    In earlier remarks, Dimon referred to bitcoin as “a hyped-up scam,” a term he subsequently withdrew. In addition, he had compared it to a “pet rock.”

    In spite of his subsequent admissions of remorse, he continued to use the term “decentralized Ponzi scheme” to describe bitcoin and other digital currencies following his previous tirades.

    Dimon and other banking leaders, including Brian Moynihan of Bank of America Corp., have asserted that their institutions have measures to stop terrorists and other criminals from utilizing them.

    In contrast, Warren advocated for the extension of anti-money-laundering regulations that banks presently enforce to digital assets, specifically the cryptocurrency market. Every single CEO expressed agreement.

    As of today, the market cap of cryptocurrencies stood at $1.55 trillion. Chart: TradingView.com

    According to sources, JPMorgan completed its first blockchain-based collateral resolution as recently as October in a deal with BlackRock and Barclays.

    With its JPM Coin, a proprietary stablecoin that enables users to execute blockchain-based payments, JPMorgan was a pioneer in this space.

    JPMorgan said in the next two years, the token may handle up to $10 billion in daily transactions, up from its current level of about $1 billion.

    The price of bitcoin, the biggest cryptocurrency in the world in terms of market valuation, has increased by more than 150% this year to about $44,000-plus, according to market tracker CoinMarketCap, despite calls for a government clampdown.

    Cryptocurrency Critique Unites Senator With Bankers

    Warren took advantage of the session to criticize the cryptocurrency sector by collaborating with Republicans and prominent bankers.

    Naturally, Dimon does not have the power of a government and cannot independently initiate the ban of cryptocurrencies.

    Being the leader of a private financial company, he may only make suggestions and voice opinions; he cannot implement significant policy changes.

    Nevertheless, it demonstrated an unusual convergence of interests between the crypto industry and the senator from Massachusetts, a long-time enemy of banks, who claimed that cryptocurrency was supporting illegal transactions.

    The price of bitcoin, the biggest and most popular cryptocurrency in the world, has increased by more than 150% this year and crossed the $44,000 barrier on Wednesday, according to the most recent market data, despite calls for a government shut down.

    Featured image from Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images

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    Christian Encila

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  • Jamie Dimon on the cryptocurrency industry: “I’d close it down”

    Jamie Dimon on the cryptocurrency industry: “I’d close it down”

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    JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon told lawmakers on Wednesday that he would pull the plug on the cryptocurrency industry if he had the power. 

    “I’ve always been deeply opposed to crypto, bitcoin, etcetera,” he said in response to a question from Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D.-Mass., about the use of cryptocurrencies by terrorists, drug traffickers and rogue nations to finance their activities. “If I was the governments, I’d close it down.”

    Dimon, regarded by many as America’s most prominent banker, said bad actors use digital currencies to launder money and dodge taxes, noting that cryptocurrency remains largely unregulated and hard to trace. He has long criticized the emerging crypto sector, once calling it a “fraud” and likening it to historical financial manias.

    Warren said the nation’s banking laws need to be updated, but that lobbyists for the crypto industry are working to block legislation to tighten rules on digital currencies, including compliance with the Bank Secrecy Act. 

    Dimon’s comments follow a tumultuous year for the crypto industry, including the November conviction of Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of bankrupt exchange FTC on multiple counts of fraud, and a $4.3 billion settlement with another major exchange, Binance, for its violation of anti-money laundering and U.S. government sanctions.

    Dimon and other leading bank CEOs, who were on Capitol Hill Wednesday for a Senate hearing on regulating Wall Street, testified that their institutions have controls in place to detect and halt illicit crypto transactions.

    Warren, a noted critic of Wall Street, urged the assembled financial executives to support the “Digital Asset Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2023,” a bill that would extend and toughen banking laws to prevent the use of crypto for money laundering, ransomware attacks, financial fraud and other illegal activities. 

    Despite calls for a government crackdown, the price of the world’s most important cryptocurrency — bitcoin — has surged more than 150% this year to nearly $44,000, according to price tracker CoinDesk

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  • Wall Street CEOs say proposed banking rules will hurt small businesses, low-income Americans

    Wall Street CEOs say proposed banking rules will hurt small businesses, low-income Americans

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    (L-R) Brian Moynihan, Chairman and CEO of Bank of America; Jamie Dimon, Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase; and Jane Fraser, CEO of Citigroup; testify during a Senate Banking Committee hearing at the Hart Senate Office Building on December 06, 2023 in Washington, DC.

    Win Mcnamee | Getty Images

    Wall Street CEOs on Wednesday pushed back against proposed regulations aimed at raising the levels of capital they’ll need to hold against future risks.

    In prepared remarks and responses to lawmakers’ questions during an annual Senate oversight hearing, the CEOs of eight banks sought to raise alarms over the impact of the changes. In July, U.S. regulators unveiled a sweeping set of higher standards governing banks known as the Basel 3 endgame.  

    “The rule would have predictable and harmful outcomes to the economy, markets, business of all sizes and American households,” JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon told lawmakers.

    If unchanged, the regulations would raise capital requirements on the largest banks by about 25%, Dimon claimed.

    The heads of America’s largest banks, including JPMorgan, Bank of America and Goldman Sachs are seeking to dull the impact of the new rules, which would affect all U.S. banks with at least $100 billion in assets and take until 2028 to be fully phased in. Raising the cost of capital would likely hurt the industry’s profitability and growth prospects.

    It would also likely help non-bank players including Apollo and Blackstone, which have gained market share in areas banks have receded from because of stricter regulations, including loans for mergers, buyouts and highly indebted corporations.

    While all the major banks can comply with the rules as currently constructed, it wouldn’t be without losers and winners, the CEOs testified.

    Those who could be unintentionally harmed by the regulations includes small business owners, mortgage customers, pensions and other investors, as well as rural and low-income customers, according to Dimon and the other executives.

    “Mortgages and small business loans will be more expensive and harder to access, particularly for low- to moderate-income borrowers,” Dimon said. “Savings for retirement or college will yield lower returns as costs rise for asset managers, money-market funds and pension funds.”

    With the rise in the cost of capital, government infrastructure projects will be more expensive to finance, making new hospitals, bridges and roads even costlier, Dimon added. Corporate clients will need to pay more to hedge the price of commodities, resulting in higher consumer costs, he said.

    The changes would “increase the cost of borrowing for farmers in rural communities,” Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser said. “It could impact them in terms of their mortgages, it could impact their credit cards. It could also importantly impact their cost of any borrowing that they do.”

    Finally, the CEOs warned that by heightening oversight on banks, regulators would push yet more financial activity to non-bank players — sometimes referred to as shadow banks — leaving regulators blind to those risks.

    The tone of lawmakers’ questioning during the three-hour hearing mostly hewed to partisan lines, with Democrats more skeptical of the executives and Republicans inquiring about potential harms to everyday Americans.

    Sen. Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat, opened the event by lambasting banks’ lobbying efforts against the Basel 3 endgame.

    “You’re going to say that cracking down on Wall Street is going to hurt working families, you’re really going to claim that?” Brown said. “The economic devastation of 2008 is what hurt working families, the uncertainty and the turmoil from the failure of Silicon Valley Bank hurt working families.”

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  • Jamie Dimon lashes out against crypto: 'If I was the government, I'd close it down'

    Jamie Dimon lashes out against crypto: 'If I was the government, I'd close it down'

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    JPMorgan Chase CEO and Chairman Jamie Dimon gestures as he speaks during the U.S. Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee oversight hearing on Wall Street firms, on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., December 6, 2023.

    Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters

    JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon lashed out at bitcoin and its peers, suggesting in remarks Wednesday on Capitol Hill that cryptocurrencies should be banned.

    “I’ve always been deeply opposed to crypto, bitcoin, etc.,” the head of the largest U.S. bank by assets said under questioning from Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., during a Senate Banking Committee hearing. “The only true use case for it is criminals, drug traffickers … money laundering, tax avoidance.”

    “If I was the government, I’d close it down,” he added.

    The remarks are the latest broadside from Dimon against cryptocurrencies, though his bank is heavily involved in blockchain, the enabling technology for the $1.6 trillion industry.

    In previous statements, Dimon has called bitcoin “a hyped-up fraud,” a comment he later walked back. He had also likened it to a “pet rock.”

    Under further questioning from Warren, Dimon and several other CEOs of large banks brought before the committee as part of a routine hearing on the industry, agreed that crypto companies should face the same anti-money-laundering regulations as the major financial institutions.

    The topic marked a rare note of unity between the banking leaders and Warren, usually a harsh critic of the industry.

    “When it comes to banking policy, I am not usually holding hands with the CEOs of multibillion-dollar banks, but this is a matter of national security. Terrorists, drug traffickers and rogue nations should be barred from using crypto for their dangerous activities. It is time for Congress to act,” Warren said.

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  • Trump slams JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon for praising Nikki Haley

    Trump slams JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon for praising Nikki Haley

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    Former President Donald Trump (L) and JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon.

    Reuters

    Former President Donald Trump on Thursday ripped Jamie Dimon as an “overrated Globalist” after the JPMorgan Chase CEO praised rival Republican Nikki Haley and urged business leaders to help her presidential bid.

    Dimon “is quietly pushing another non-MAGA person, Nikki Haley, for President,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

    Haley served in the Trump administration as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

    “I’ve never been a big Jamie Dimon fan, but had to live with this guy when he came begging to the White House,” wrote Trump, the current front-runner in the 2024 GOP presidential primary.

    “I guess I don’t have to live with him anymore, and that’s a really good thing!” he added.

    JPMorgan declined to comment on Trump’s post.

    Dimon lauded Haley the during Wednesday’s New York Times DealBook conference in New York.

    “Even if you’re a very liberal Democrat, I urge you, help Nikki Haley, too,” the CEO told the crowd, which included several business leaders. “Get a choice on the Republican side that might be better than Trump.”

    When asked what he thought about the two front-runners from each major party, Trump and President Joe Biden, Dimon let out an exasperated “Oh God.”

    Haley, a former South Carolina governor and one of Trump’s first challengers in the primary race, has recently gained steam in the polls, putting pressure on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for the second-place position.

    On Tuesday, Haley clinched the coveted endorsement of Americans for Prosperity Action, the political network back by the conservative billionaire Charles Koch.

    Haley’s campaign on Thursday morning launched its first ad of the primary, urging Americans to “to leave behind the chaos and drama of the past.”

    The ad echoes Haley’s recent remark that “chaos follows” Trump.

    Trump vs. Dimon through the years

    It’s not the first time Trump and Dimon have locked horns.

    Dimon in 2018 said he could beat Trump in a presidential race because “I’m as tough as he is, I’m smarter than he is.”

    Trump shot back on Twitter that Dimon is a “nervous mess” and “a poor public speaker” who doesn’t have the aptitude or ‘smarts’” to run for president.

    “Otherwise he is wonderful,” Trump added.

    During a battle over the debt ceiling in May, Dimon knocked Trump over his comments in support of letting the U.S. default on its debt.

    It’s “one more thing he doesn’t know very much about,” Dimon said of Trump.

    Read more CNBC politics coverage

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  • JPMorgan boss Jamie Dimon wants Americans on both sides of the political fence to unite to keep Trump out of office—but warns against sneering at MAGA supporters

    JPMorgan boss Jamie Dimon wants Americans on both sides of the political fence to unite to keep Trump out of office—but warns against sneering at MAGA supporters

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    America has failed its least wealthy citizens—and “insulting” those with opposing political views isn’t going to make things better, according to JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon.

    Speaking at the New York Times DealBook Summit on Wednesday, the Wall Street veteran called on people of all ideological views to do what they can to prevent another Donald Trump presidency.

    “If you’re a very liberal Democrat, I urge you: help Nikki Haley,” he said. “Get a choice on the Republican side that might be better than Trump.”

    Asked whether he believed the best outcome for the election was “anyone but Trump,” Dimon responded: “I would never say that.”

    “He might be the president, I have to deal with that too,” he joked—but he noted that he didn’t mind criticizing whoever ends up in the Oval Office.

    Stop slamming MAGA movement, Dimon says

    While he made it clear he wasn’t the biggest fan of Trump returning to office, Dimon urged Americans on Wednesday to put aside some of their ideological differences and look for the nuance in others’ political beliefs.

    “We should stop talking about ultra-MAGA,” he insisted. “I think you’re insulting a large group of people, and making this assumption, scapegoating—which the press is pretty good at too—that these people believe in Trump’s family values and are supporting the personal person. I don’t think that’s true.”

    A lot of the support for Trump’s so-called MAGA (“Make America Great Again”) campaign, Dimon argued, came from specific things he had called out or achieved during his presidency.

    “I think what [supporters are] looking at is the economy was pretty good—the Black community had the lowest unemployment rate ever in his last year,” he said. “He wasn’t wrong about China. He wasn’t wrong about NATO. He was wrong about the misuse of the military. So that’s why—they’re looking at that.”

    He called on people to do what they can to consider why people take opposing views. For Democrats, he suggested reading the work of conservative columnist George Will, while he said Republicans ought to look up the work of Pulitzer winning columnist Thomas Friedman.

    “We should get out of this [idea that] it’s one way or the other,” he said. “I’m not mad at people who are anti-abortion. If you believe in God and that conception starts at the moment of birth, you are not a bad person. I think people need to stop denigrating each other all the time because people take a point of view that is slightly different than yours. We’re a democracy—people should vote and solve some of these issues, and they won’t always be what you want.”

    ‘What the hell have we done?’

    While there has been some speculation that Dimon himself may some day run for office, he’s denied having any political ambitions for now.

    However, he made it clear on Wednesday what he would have done differently to former president Trump or incumbent candidate Joe Biden.

    “We’ve done a terrible job taking care of our bottom 30% of earners,” he said, telling the audience: “You all are wealthy and have money, but their average, their average wages are [low].”

    “They’re the ones who lost their job in COVID,” he added. “They’re the ones who are dying five or six years younger than the rest of us. They’re the ones who don’t have medical insurance. They’re the ones whose schools don’t work, and they’re the ones dealing with crime. What the hell have we done as a nation?”

    Insisting that “we need to fix it,” the JPMorgan chief said the U.S. needed better immigration, education and infrastructure policies—and he pledged to do what he could to help make that a reality.

    “Whoever’s president, I’m going to try to help do the best job possible,” he said, before sharing an anecdote about his wife and daughters criticizing him for going to the White House years ago to meet with then-president Trump.

    “I will walk into that oval office trying to help whoever is the president of the United States to do a better job for our people,” he added. “I don’t agree with a lot of things [Trump] does… [but] I couldn’t imagine saying ‘I’m not going to go into the White House because of who’s there.’”

    Tax the rich, help the poor

    During the DealBook Summit talks, Business Insider reported that Dimon was also asked by audience member and billionaire hedge funder Bill Ackman—who once urged the JPMorgan CEO to run for president—what he would hypothetically do if he were to be elected president of the United States.

    He said he would start by building a cabinet of “really smart, talented brainy people” that included both Republicans and Democrats, before tackling education, immigration and “doubling down on diplomacy.”

    Dimon—who has a personal net worth of $1.8 billion, according to Forbes—also said presidents should have an economic growth strategy that included “proper taxation” policies, adding that he would double the earned income tax credit for low earners “tomorrow.”

    “I’d make people like you pay a little bit more,” he also told Ackman. “This carried interest stuff would be gone the day I got in office because it is unfair.”

    The carried interest loophole—which Ackman has previously slammed as a “stain on the tax code”—allows private equity and hedge fund managers to lower their tax bill on profits from fund investments.

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    Chloe Taylor

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  • Video: JP Morgan Will ‘Punch Back’ on Texas’ Efforts to Limit Its Business

    Video: JP Morgan Will ‘Punch Back’ on Texas’ Efforts to Limit Its Business

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    new video loaded: JP Morgan Will ‘Punch Back’ on Texas’ Efforts to Limit Its Business

    transcript

    transcript

    JP Morgan Will ‘Punch Back’ on Texas’ Efforts to Limit Its Business

    Jamie Dimon, the chief executive of JP Morgan Chase, said that there would be “consequences” for the state’s attempts to restrict business with banks that embrace environmental, social and governance policies.

    00:00:00.000 —> 00:00:02.270 We financed more oil and gas companies in the world than 00:00:02.270 —> 00:00:04.103 just about anybody else, which I’m proud of. 00:00:04.103 —> 00:00:06.290 The best companies, the cleanest companies, 00:00:06.290 —> 00:00:07.760 they’re reducing the oil and gas. 00:00:07.760 —> 00:00:08.760 They’re reducing the methane. 00:00:08.760 —> 00:00:10.820 They will be the biggest part of the transition, 00:00:10.820 —> 00:00:12.280 whether you think that or not. 00:00:12.280 —> 00:00:14.558 You know, and so we look at facts and detailed analysis. 00:00:14.558 —> 00:00:16.850 And yes, we’re also one of the biggest green financiers 00:00:16.850 —> 00:00:22.200 in the world — solar, wind, all the R&D taking place. 00:00:22.200 —> 00:00:23.640 And so we just do our jobs. 00:00:23.640 —> 00:00:25.967 And that’s, that — I don’t think will happen. 00:00:25.967 —> 00:00:27.300 But if it does happen, so be it. 00:00:27.300 —> 00:00:29.020 We can’t do municipal bonds in Texas. 00:00:29.020 —> 00:00:32.030 There will be consequences to Texas because we bank 00:00:32.030 —> 00:00:36.500 their cities, schools, states, hospitals, companies — 00:00:36.500 —> 00:00:38.310 30,000 employees. 00:00:38.310 —> 00:00:40.840 And this time I would punch back.

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  • JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon to business leaders: ‘Help Nikki Haley’

    JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon to business leaders: ‘Help Nikki Haley’

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    JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon has a message for some of the world’s wealthiest corporate leaders: Help Nikki Haley’s presidential campaign.

    “Even if you’re a very liberal Democrat, I urge you, help Nikki Haley, too. Get a choice on the Republican side that might be better than [Donald] Trump,” Dimon said Wednesday at a conference hosted by The New York Times’ DealBook franchise.

    Present in the audience for Dimon’s remarks was a who’s who of Wall Street titans, including hedge fund veteran Bill Ackman. Billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk, media titan David Zaslav and Disney CEO Bob Iger were all scheduled to speak later in the day.

    Dimon was clearly addressing his remarks to the people in the room, and not to all liberal Democrats.

    The comments come as Haley is riding a wave of new support from key big money political backers. On Tuesday, the political network financed largely by billionaire Charles Koch formally endorsed the former governor of South Carolina.

    Haley told CNBC’s Squawk Box that she and Dimon spoke by phone recently about the state of the economy. Dimon has a net worth is $1.8 billion, according to Forbes.

    At the Dealbook conferene, Dimon stopped short of saying the Republican presidential nominee should be anyone but Trump.

    “I would never say that, you know, because he might be the president and I have to deal with him too,” said Dimon.

    Haley’s current momentum extends beyond Wall Street. A recent CNN poll showed 42% of likely GOP primary voters in the key primary state of New Hampshire supported Trump, with Haley in second place, getting 20%. For Haley, that’s an 8-point increase since the last CNN/University of New Hampshire poll in September.

    Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was in fourth place in that poll at 9%, behind former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s 14%.

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  • Jamie Dimon says JPMorgan Chase would exit China if ordered to

    Jamie Dimon says JPMorgan Chase would exit China if ordered to

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    JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said Wednesday that his bank would exit China if the U.S. government ordered him to.

    “If the American government makes me leave China, I’m leaving China,” Dimon said at the DealBook Summit during a discussion about a potential future conflict over Taiwan. “If there’s a war in Taiwan, you would take all bets off.”

    JPMorgan, which says on its website that it’s been active in China for a century, does investment and corporate banking, payments and asset management there. Growing geopolitical tensions — fueled by wars in Ukraine and Israel — have raised concerns that China could move to annex Taiwan.

    “No one thinks it’s going to happen; it may happen,” Dimon said about war over Taiwan. “That would be really bad for the world and really bad for China.”

    Chairman and C.E.O. of JPMorgan Chase & Co. Jaime Dimon speaks during the New York Times annual DealBook summit on November 29, 2023 in New York City. 

    Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images

    Dimon called relations with China, the world’s second largest economy, “a very complicated subject” and said that engagement with both China and the U.S. government was necessary.

    “I think it’s good for an American bank to be there to help multinationals around the world and China with their own development if it makes sense,” Dimon said. “If for some reason the American government says ‘Nope, can’t do that anymore,’ then so be it.”

    Dimon also pointed out that while the U.S. maintains good relations with Mexico and Canada, China has “done a pretty good job angering all the people around them,” and the country has “terrible demographics.”

    The bank advises Chinese clients including fast-fashion retailer Shein and Tiktok-parent company ByteDance.

    Dimon addressed security concerns related to TikTok, saying, “You can imagine the due diligence and work we do to figure out the truth about those things.”

    “If some of those people are doing things that we think are truly bad, we would not bank them,” he said.

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  • CNBC Daily Open: Are things about to get more difficult?

    CNBC Daily Open: Are things about to get more difficult?

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    Up from No. 13 in 2022, Minneapolis, Minnesota ranked as the No. 2 most neighborly city in America.

    S. Greg Panosian | E+ | Getty Images

    This report is from today’s CNBC Daily Open, our new, international markets newsletter. CNBC Daily Open brings investors up to speed on everything they need to know, no matter where they are. Like what you see? You can subscribe here.

    What you need to know today

    S&P 500 in correction
    The
    S&P 500 index slipped into correction territory on Friday amid fears of a recession, closing 10.3% lower from this year’s peak on July 31. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 1.12% lower, and the Nasdaq Composite held 0.38% higher. Asia-Pacific markets kicked off the week on a mixed note ahead of key economic readings from the region. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 1.03% while the Kospi in South Korea was up 0.35%.

    Hey, Big Spender  
    Inflation in September rose but consumer spending came in even stronger than economists expected, numbers from the Commerce Department showed on Friday. The core personal consumption expenditures price index, the Fed’s key inflation measure, was 0.3% higher for the month, which was in line with the Dow Jones estimate. Even though prices picked up, personal spending continued, rising 0.7%, which was better than the 0.5% forecast.

    A potential pause?
    The Federal Reserve is widely seen leaving interest rates unchanged at the end of its two-day policy meeting this week, even as its preferred inflation indicator remains well above its 2% target. Earlier this month, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said “inflation is still too high,” raising expectations that another rate hike may not be entirely out of the picture.

    HSBC’s bumper profit
    HSBC reported quarterly profit after tax of $6.26 billion, up a whopping 235% compared to the $2.66 billion from a year ago quarter. Profit before tax, for the three months ended September, rose by $4.5 billion to $7.7 billion, due to a higher interest rate environment.

    [PRO] This under-the-radar stock is set for an AI boost
    Investors have piled into the likes of NvidiaBaidu and Alibaba as such tech companies have leveraged the use of artificial intelligence. But one portfolio manager says there’s one lesser-known stock that stands out.

    The bottom line

    Markets survived another brutal week and are looking to wrap up an even more tumultuous month, which saw the S&P 500 and Nasdaq indexes slip into correction territory.

    A correction is when an index falls more than 10% (but less than 20%) from its most recent closing high. It’s called a correction because historically the drop often “corrects” and returns prices to their longer-term trend.

    Investors have had to tackle everything from multi-year high Treasury yields, a busy earnings season to multiple inflation readings. A reading on personal consumption expenditures on Friday served as the latest evidence that American consumer spending remained healthy.

    Core PCE rose 0.3% in September and 3.7% year over year, matching estimates from economists polled by Dow Jones. Personal spending increased 0.7%, however, surpassing estimates of 0.5%. PCE is the Federal Reserve’s most preferred inflation metric.

    The reading came ahead of the Fed’s two-day policy meeting this week, at the end of which the U.S. central bank is widely expected to pause on hiking rates.

    Morningstar’s chief U.S. market strategist Dave Sekera says the Fed is done hiking, and forecasts the central bank will start to cut the federal funds rate in the first half of 2024. 

    “As we forecast the rate of economic growth to slow and inflation to moderate, this allows the Fed to move to increasingly more accommodative language in early 2024 to prepare the market in advance for when they decide to begin cutting rates,” Sekera wrote.

    A Fed meeting was by no means the only market-moving event investors were looking at. About 30% of the S&P 500 is scheduled to report earnings this week, among which Apple, McDonald’s and Pfizer will deliver quarterly results.

    And if that wasn’t packed enough, market players will also be chasing the October jobs report due on Friday. It’s expected to show the U.S. economy added 175,000 jobs last month, according to consensus estimates from FactSet. That will follow a blowout 336,000 job additions from the prior month. 

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  • CNBC Daily Open: The perfect storm

    CNBC Daily Open: The perfect storm

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    NEW YORK, NEW YORK – JUNE 03: People walk by the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) at the start of the trading day on June 03, 2022 in New York City. A new jobs report released by the Labor Department this morning shows employers added 390,000 jobs in May. Stocks pointed lower ahead of the opening bell on Friday, putting indexes back into the red for the week. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

    Spencer Platt | Getty Images News | Getty Images

    This report is from today’s CNBC Daily Open, our new, international markets newsletter. CNBC Daily Open brings investors up to speed on everything they need to know, no matter where they are. Like what you see? You can subscribe here.

    What you need to know today

    S&P 500 in correction
    The benchmark 
    S&P 500 index slipped into correction territory on Friday on fears of a recession, closing 10.3% lower from this year’s peak on July 31. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 1.12% lower, while the Nasdaq Composite held 0.38% higher. European stocks also ended lower, with the benchmark Stoxx 600 closing down 0.8%.

    Hey, Big Spender  
    Inflation in September rose but consumer spending came in even stronger than economists expected, numbers from the Commerce Department showed on Friday. The core personal consumption expenditures price index, the Fed’s key inflation measure, was 0.3% higher for the month, which was in line with the Dow Jones estimate. Even though prices picked up, personal spending continued, rising 0.7%, which was better than the 0.5% forecast.

    A potential pause?
    The Federal Reserve is widely seen leaving interest rates unchanged at the end of its two-day policy meeting this week, even as its preferred inflation indicator remains well above its 2% target. Earlier this month, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said “inflation is still too high,” raising expectations that another rate hike may not be entirely out of the picture.

    One million share sale
    JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon is set to sell one million shares of the bank in 2024. The plan raised concerns that Dimon could be contemplating retirement. Still, a spokesperson for the country’s biggest lender said the move wasn’t related to a succession plan, and that Dimon has “no current plans” for another sale.

    [PRO] The S&P 500 correction is good news
    The stock market tumbled into correction territory this week, sparking fears of more turmoil is ahead. But for disciples of Warren Buffett, a 10% drawdown for the the S&P 500 shouldn’t matter.   

    The bottom line

    Markets survived another brutal week and are looking to wrap up an even more tumultuous month, which saw the S&P 500 and Nasdaq indexes slip into correction territory.

    A correction is when an index falls more than 10% (but less than 20%) from its most recent closing high. It’s called a correction because historically the drop often “corrects” and returns prices to their longer-term trend.

    Investors have had to tackle everything from multi-year high Treasury yields, a busy earnings season to multiple inflation readings. A reading on personal consumption expenditures on Friday served as the latest evidence that American consumer spending remained healthy.

    Core PCE rose 0.3% in September and 3.7% year over year, matching estimates from economists polled by Dow Jones. Personal spending increased 0.7%, however, surpassing estimates of 0.5%. PCE is the Federal Reserve’s most preferred inflation metric.

    The reading came ahead of the Fed’s two-day policy meeting this week, at the end of which the U.S. central bank is widely expected to pause on hiking rates.

    Morningstar’s chief U.S. market strategist Dave Sekera says the Fed is done hiking, and forecasts the central bank will start to cut the federal funds rate in the first half of 2024. 

    “As we forecast the rate of economic growth to slow and inflation to moderate, this allows the Fed to move to increasingly more accommodative language in early 2024 to prepare the market in advance for when they decide to begin cutting rates,” Sekera wrote.

    A Fed meeting was by no means the only market-moving event investors were looking at. About 30% of the S&P 500 is scheduled to report earnings this week, among which Apple, McDonald’s and Pfizer will deliver quarterly results.

    And if that wasn’t packed enough, market players will also be chasing the October jobs report due on Friday. It’s expected to show the U.S. economy added 175,000 jobs last month, according to consensus estimates from FactSet. That will follow a blowout 336,000 job additions from the prior month. 

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  • Jamie Dimon’s stock-moving trades show why investors should track CEOs’ buying and selling

    Jamie Dimon’s stock-moving trades show why investors should track CEOs’ buying and selling

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    Jamie Dimon, chairman and chief executive officer of JPMorgan Chase & Co. says the new U.K. government should be “given the benefit of the doubt.”

    Al Drago | Bloomberg | Getty Images

    For the first time in nearly two decades running JPMorgan Chase, CEO Jamie Dimon will voluntarily sell stock in the bank.

    The disclosure, in a securities filing Friday, detailed next year’s planned sales — pressuring JPMorgan (JPM) shares and the Dow Jones Industrial Average and highlighting why tracking trades made by executives involving the companies they lead should be an important part of every investor’s homework.

    Dimon is setting up the trades through a predetermined plan that executives at publicly traded companies use to protect against insider trading accusations. It will mark the first time that the 67-year-old CEO has offloaded shares of JPMorgan for non-technical reasons, such as exercising options.  

    The planned sales – amounting to roughly 12% of the JPMorgan stock owned by Dimon and his family – are being done for tax planning and personal wealth diversification reasons, the bank said. Both are common reasons for executives to sell stock in their firms. The bank also said Dimon continues to believe JPMorgan’s prospects are “very strong,” and his planned trades are not related in any way to succession. Such sales are often seen when CEOs get close to retirement.

    As you can see, making sense of insider transactions can sometimes be a tall task.

    When they buy, it’s generally seen as an encouraging sign by Wall Street — and there is, perhaps, no better example of this than another move by Dimon in 2016, when he purchased JPMorgan stock.

    Fears of a weakening global economy sent stocks into a tailspin in early 2016, driving shares of JPMorgan down nearly 20% and the S&P 500 down more than 10% at their lows.

    But that weakness didn’t last long.

    The trajectory of the market changed just six weeks into the new year. That’s when Dimon disclosed — after the closing bell on Feb. 11, 2016 — that he bought 500,000 shares of the bank, worth about $26 million at the time.

    Dimon’s stock purchase, intended to show confidence in the financial sector, has become legendary on Wall Street. It ultimately coincided with — or perhaps was the reason for — the closing lows for not only shares of JPMorgan in 2016 but also the S&P 500 overall.

    Jim Cramer has since dubbed Feb. 11, 2016: “The Jamie Dimon Bottom.” JPMorgan finished up 30% that year, while the S&P 500 ended more than 9% higher — both huge turnarounds.

    While executive stock sales — such as Dimon’s planned transactions next year — are not universally red flags, they can get complicated.

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  • JPMorgan Chase stock slips after bank says CEO Jamie Dimon is selling 1 million shares

    JPMorgan Chase stock slips after bank says CEO Jamie Dimon is selling 1 million shares

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    JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon will begin to sell one million shares of the bank he runs next year, the company said Friday in a filing.

    The plan sparked concern that Dimon, 67, could be contemplating retirement. Dimon is arguably the country’s top banker. He has led JPMorgan since 2005, helping build it into the biggest and most profitable American bank. His stewardship included navigating JPMorgan through two banking crises, helping stabilize the industry by acquiring failed banks.

    Before now, Dimon has never sold shares of JPMorgan except for technical reasons such as exercising options. He has also spent his own money snapping up JPMorgan shares in the past.

    Shares of the bank slipped 3.6%, worse than the 2.3% decline of the KBW Bank Index.

    “This is a reminder that the CEO is getting closer to retirement,” Wells Fargo analyst Mike Mayo said in a note. Dimon may transition from his current role in about three and a half years, if prior statements prove accurate, Mayo added.

    A spokesperson for the New York-based bank said the move wasn’t related to succession planning, and that Dimon has “no current plans” for another sale, though his needs could change over time.

    Here is the bank’s statement:

    Chairman & CEO Jamie Dimon confirmed today that he and his family plan to sell a portion of their holdings of JPMorgan stock for financial diversification and tax-planning purposes. Starting in 2024 they currently intend to sell 1 million shares, subject to the terms of a stock trading plan. This is Mr. Dimon’s first such stock sale during his tenure at the company.

    Mr. Dimon continues to believe the company’s prospects are very strong and his stake in the company will remain very significant. He and his family currently hold approximately 8.6 million shares, and in addition he continues to have unvested Performance Share Units relating to 561,793 shares and Stock Appreciation Rights relating to 1,500,000 shares, subject to the terms and conditions of each grant.

    Mr. Dimon will use stock trading plans to sell his shares, in accordance with guidelines specified under Rule 10b5-1 of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934.

    Read more CNBC finance news

    Don’t miss these CNBC PRO stories:

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  • Jamie Dimon rips central banks for being ‘100% dead wrong’ on economic forecasts

    Jamie Dimon rips central banks for being ‘100% dead wrong’ on economic forecasts

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    Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase speaking with CNBC’s Leslie Picker in Bozeman, MT on Aug. 2nd, 2023.

    CNBC

    JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon on Tuesday warned about the dangers of locking in an outlook about the economy, particularly considering the poor recent track record of central banks like the Federal Reserve.

    In the latest of multiple warnings about what lies ahead from the head of the largest U.S. bank by assets, he cautioned that myriad factors playing out now make things even more difficult.

    “Prepare for possibilities and probabilities, not calling one course of action, since I’ve never seen anyone call it,” Dimon said during a panel discussion at the Future Investment Initiative summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

    “I want to point out the central banks 18 months ago were 100% dead wrong,” he added. “I would be quite cautious about what might happen next year.”

    The comments reference back to the Fed outlook in early 2022 and for much of the previous year, when central bank officials insisted that the inflation surge would be “transitory.”

    Along with the misdiagnosis on prices, Fed officials, according to projections released in March 2022, collectively saw their key interest rate rising to just 2.8% by the end of 2023 — it is now north of 5.25% — and core inflation at 2.8%, 1.1 percentage points below its current level as measured by the central bank’s preferred gauge.

    Dimon criticized “this omnipotent feeling that central banks and governments can manage through all this stuff. I’m cautious.”

    Much of Wall Street has been focused on whether the Fed might enact another quarter percentage point rate hike before the end of 2023. But Dimon said, “I don’t think it makes a piece of difference whether the rates go up 25 basis points or more, like zero, none, nada.”

    In other recent warnings, Dimon warned of a potential scenario in which the fed funds rate could eclipse 7%. When the bank released its earnings report earlier this month, he cautioned that, “This may be the most dangerous time the world has seen in decades.”

    “Whether the whole curve goes up 100 basis points, I would be prepared for it,” he added. “I don’t know if it’s going to happen, but I look at what we’re seeing today, more like the ’70s, a lot of spending, a lot of this can be wasted.” (One basis point equals 0.01%.)

    Elsewhere in finance, Dimon said he supports ESG principles but criticized the government for playing “whack-a-mole” with no concerted strategy.

    “You can’t build pipelines to reduce coal emissions. You can’t get the permits to build solar and wind and things like that,” he said. “So we better get our act together.”

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  • Big banks are done reporting earnings. Here’s how our financial names performed against peers

    Big banks are done reporting earnings. Here’s how our financial names performed against peers

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    A combination file photo shows Wells Fargo, Citibank, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Goldman Sachs.

    Reuters

    Despite a murky macroeconomic environment and heightened fears around the health of the banking sector, the nation’s largest financial institutions all reported earnings beats for the third quarter.

    Some businesses performed better than others. However, none of them has been rewarded with higher stock prices — yet.

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  • Big banks are quietly cutting thousands of employees, and more layoffs are coming

    Big banks are quietly cutting thousands of employees, and more layoffs are coming

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    Pedestrians walk along Wall Street near the New York Stock Exchange in New York.

    Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images

    The largest American banks have been quietly laying off workers all year — and some of the deepest cuts are yet to come.

    Even as the economy has surprised forecasters with its resilience, lenders have cut headcount or announced plans to do so, with the key exception being JPMorgan Chase, the biggest and most profitable U.S. bank.

    Pressured by the impact of higher interest rates on the mortgage business, Wall Street deal-making and funding costs, the next five largest U.S. banks cut a combined 20,000 positions so far this year, according to company filings.

    The moves come after a two-year hiring boom during the pandemic, fueled by a surge in Wall Street activity. That subsided after the Federal Reserve began raising interest rates last year to cool an overheated economy, and banks found themselves suddenly overstaffed for an environment in which fewer consumers sought out mortgages and fewer corporations issued debt or bought competitors.

    “Banks are cutting costs where they can because things are really uncertain next year,” Chris Marinac, research director at Janney Montgomery Scott, said in a phone interview.

    Job losses in the financial industry could pressure the broader U.S. labor market in 2024. Faced with rising defaults on corporate and consumer loans, lenders are poised to make deeper cuts next year, said Marinac.

    “They need to find levers to keep earnings from falling further and to free up money for provisions as more loans go bad,” he said. “By the time we roll into January, you’ll hear a lot of companies talking about this.”

    Deepest cuts

    Banks disclose total headcount numbers every quarter. While the aggregate figures mask the hiring and firing going on beneath the surface, they are informative.

    The deepest cuts have been at Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs, institutions that are wrestling with revenue declines in key businesses. They each have cut roughly 5% of their workforce so far this year.

    At Wells Fargo, job cuts came after the bank announced a strategic shift away from the mortgage business in January. And even though the bank cut 50,000 employees in the past three years as part of CEO Charlie Scharf‘s cost-cutting plan, the firm isn’t done shrinking headcount, executives said Friday.

    There are “very few parts of the company” that will be spared from cuts, said CFO Mike Santomassimo.

    “We still have additional opportunities to reduce head count,” he told analysts. “Attrition has remained low, which will likely result in additional severance expense for actions in 2024.”

    Goldman firings

    Meanwhile, after several rounds of cuts in the past year, Goldman executives said that they had “right-sized” the bank and don’t expect another mass layoff like the one enacted in January.

    But headcount is still headed down at the New York-based bank. Last year, Goldman brought back annual performance reviews where people deemed low performers are cut. In the coming weeks, the bank will terminate around 1% or 2% of its employees, according to a person with knowledge of the plans.

    Headcount will also drift lower because of Goldman’s pivot away from consumer finance; the firm agreed to sell two businesses in deals that will close in coming months, a wealth management unit and fintech lender GreenSky.

    A key factor driving the cuts is that job-hopping in finance slowed drastically from earlier years, leaving banks with more people than they expected.

    “Attrition has been remarkably low, and that’s something that we’ve just got to work through,” Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman said Wednesday. The bank has cut about 2% of its workforce this year amid a protracted slowdown in investment banking activity.

    The aggregate figures obscure the hiring that banks are still doing. While headcount at Bank of America dipped 1.9% this year, the firm has hired 12,000 people so far, indicating that an even greater amount of people left their jobs.

    Citigroup’s cuts

    While Citigroup‘s staff figures have been stable at 240,000 this year, there are significant changes afoot, CFO Mark Mason told analysts last week. The bank has already identified 7,000 job cuts linked to $600 million in “repositioning charges” disclosed so far this year.

    CEO Jane Fraser’s latest plan to overhaul the bank’s corporate structure, as well as sales of overseas retail operations, will further lower headcount in coming quarters, executives said.

    “As we continue to progress in those divestitures … we’ll see those heads come down,” Mason said.

    Meanwhile, JPMorgan has been the industry’s outlier. The bank grew headcount by 5.1% this year as it expanded its branch network, invested aggressively in technology and acquired the failed regional lender First Republic, which added about 5,000 positions.

    Even after its hiring spree, JPMorgan has more than 10,000 open positions, the company said.

    But the bank appears to be the exception to the rule. Led by CEO Jamie Dimon since 2006, JPMorgan has best navigated the surging interest rate environment of the past year, managing to attract deposits and grow revenue while smaller rivals struggled. It’s the only one of the Big Six lenders whose shares have meaningfully climbed this year.  

    All these companies expanded year after year,” said Marinac. “You can easily see several more quarters where they go backwards, because there’s room to cut, and they have to find a way to survive.”

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  • CNBC Daily Open: JPMorgan’s big profit growth isn’t likely to persist

    CNBC Daily Open: JPMorgan’s big profit growth isn’t likely to persist

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    The JPMorgan Chase & Co. headquarters in New York, US, on Friday, July 7, 2023.

    Michael Nagle| Bloomberg | Getty Images

    This report is from today’s CNBC Daily Open, our new, international markets newsletter. CNBC Daily Open brings investors up to speed on everything they need to know, no matter where they are. Like what you see? You can subscribe here.

    What you need to know today

    Markets lost momentum
    Major U.S. indexes mostly slipped Friday, though the Dow Jones Industrial Average bucked the trend to inch up slightly. Asia-Pacific markets dipped Monday. Mainland China’s Shanghai Composite fell around 0.4%, and the yuan weakened marginally, as the People’s Bank of China left its short- and medium-term lending rates unchanged.

    Booming profits at JPMorgan
    JPMorgan Chase’s third-quarter profit surged 35% from a year ago to hit $13.15 billion, while revenue popped 21% to $40.96 billion, surpassing expectations. Net interest income, at $22.9 billion, was 30% higher than the same period in 2022, beating estimates by around $600 million. Shares of the bank climbed 1.5% Friday. Still, CEO Jamie Dimon warned we’re facing “the most dangerous time” in decades.

    Hot oil
    On Friday, prices of both U.S. West Texas Intermediate and Brent crude futures soared more than 5.7% to $87.72 and $90.89 per barrel, respectively. That’s the highest jump in a day for both crude futures since April 3. (Prices remained mostly unchanged during Asia trading hours Monday.) Meanwhile, U.S. oil production hit an all-time high last week, marking a comeback in the domestic industry.

    ‘Path to a Palestinian state’
    U.S. President Joe Biden said in a televised interview Sunday the Palestinian militant group Hamas must be neutralized — but there also “needs to be a path to a Palestinian state.” Separately, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi reportedly told his Saudi Arabia counterpart Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud that “Israel’s actions have gone beyond self-defense.”

    [PRO] All eyes on banks
    Keep your eye on banks posting results this week — the numbers will provide clues to many aspects of the economy, such as consumers’ strength and whether corporate borrowing and dealmaking are returning. Wall Street banks like Goldman Sachs and Bank of America report earnings Tuesday, followed by regional banks — and Morgan Stanley — on Wednesday.

    The bottom line

    Going into this earnings season, analysts feared big banks’ income wouldn’t hold up from the previous quarters. Those fears didn’t materialize — for now.

    Net interest income, in particular, was higher than expected. That’s the amount banks pocket when they give depositors a low (or zero!) interest rate on their savings, and charge borrowers a high interest rate, usually pegged to the federal funds rate.

    Given the high yields on U.S. Treasury and money market funds, analysts thought banks would be forced to shower depositors with higher interest rates, reducing net interest income. That didn’t happen. On the contrary, net interest income rose from a year ago at JPMorgan and Wells Fargo, and beat expectations at Citigroup.

    But JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon isn’t feeling complacent about that. Dimon acknowledged that his bank’s “over-earning” on net interest income, a benefit that will vanish eventually.  

    For a preview of that, we don’t have to wait for the following quarters. We just have to look at BlackRock’s third-quarter earnings. Clients pulled their money from BlackRock’s active unit and its index and ETF unit because “for the first time in nearly two decades, clients are earning a real return in cash and can wait for more policy and market certainty before re-risking,” CEO Larry Fink said.

    Meanwhile, gold saw its best day of the year on Friday. December futures contracts for the safe-haven metal rose 3.11%, putting it 6.31% higher than its level at the start of 2023. That’s another sign risky assets are losing attractiveness.

    Indeed, the S&P 500 retreated 0.5% and the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.23%. But the Dow Jones Industrial Average managed to eke out a 0.12% gain. For the week, only the Nasdaq closed lower.

    It isn’t just investors who are feeling jittery. Outside financial markets, consumer sentiment is slumping, as indicated by the University of Michigan’s survey. But that’s not really a surprise, given the geopolitical shocks and human tragedy unfolding currently.

    “The war in Ukraine compounded by last week’s attacks on Israel may have far-reaching impacts on energy and food markets, global trade, and geopolitical relationships,” Dimon said. “This may be the most dangerous time the world has seen in decades.”

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  • JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon warns this is ‘the most dangerous time’ for the world in decades

    JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon warns this is ‘the most dangerous time’ for the world in decades

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    Jamie Dimon, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of JPMorgan Chase & Co., gestures as he speaks during an interview with Reuters in Miami, Florida, U.S., February 8, 2023. 

    Marco Bello | Reuters

    JPMorgan Chase delivered strong profits for the third quarter along with a stern warning Friday from its top executive about the perils the world faces from multiple threats.

    “This may be the most dangerous time the world has seen in decades,” CEO Jamie Dimon said in a statement that accompanied the bank’s earnings news release.

    The head of the largest U.S. bank by assets cited the ongoing war in Ukraine as well as the attacks Hamas launched on Israel last weekend that he said “may have far-reaching impacts on energy and food markets, global trade, and geopolitical relationships.”

    Beyond the military conflicts, Dimon cited the burgeoning national debt and “the largest peacetime fiscal deficits ever” that he said are raising the risks that inflation and interest rates remain high.

    Along with the high rates, he mentioned the Federal Reserve’s efforts to reduce its bond holdings. The process, known as quantitative tightening, “reduces liquidity in the system at a time when market-making capabilities are increasingly limited by regulations,” he said.

    Dimon recently has said that he has been warning clients about the possibility that interest rates may not only stay elevated but also could rise significantly from here.

    “While we hope for the best, we prepare the Firm for a broad range of outcomes so we can consistently deliver for clients no matter the environment,” he said.

    JPMorgan Chase showed a $13.15 billion, or $4.33 a share, profit for the July-through-September period, a 35% jump from a year ago. Dimon further cautioned that the performance came from benefits to net interest income and credit costs that likely won’t last.

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  • JPMorgan Chase is set to report third-quarter earnings — here’s what the Street expects

    JPMorgan Chase is set to report third-quarter earnings — here’s what the Street expects

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    Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, at the U.S. Capitol for a lunch meeting with the New Democrat Coalition in Washington, D.C., June 6, 2023.

    Nathan Howard | Bloomberg | Getty Images

    JPMorgan Chase is scheduled to report third-quarter earnings before the opening bell Friday.

    Here’s what Wall Street expects, according to analyst estimates compiled by LSEG, formerly known as Refinitiv

    • Earnings per share: $3.96
    • Revenue: $39.65 billion

    JPMorgan will be watched closely for clues on how the industry fared amid surging interest rates and rising loan losses.

    While the biggest U.S. bank by assets has navigated volatile rates adeptly so far this year, the situation has caught several peers off guard, including a trio of midsized lenders that collapsed after deposit runs.

    Bank stocks plunged last month after the Federal Reserve signaled it would keep interest rates higher for longer than expected to fight inflation amid unexpectedly robust economic growth. The 10-year Treasury yield, a key figure for long-term rates, jumped 74 basis points in the third quarter. One basis point equals one-hundredth of a percentage point.

    Higher rates hit banks in several ways. The industry has been forced to pay up for deposits as customers shift holdings into higher-yielding instruments like money market funds. Rising yields mean the bonds owned by banks fall in value, creating unrealized losses that pressure capital levels. And higher borrowing costs tamp down demand for mortgages and corporate loans.

    Banks including JPMorgan have also been setting aside more funds for anticipated loan losses.

    Wall Street may provide little help this quarter, with investment banking fees likely to remain subdued and trading revenue expected to be flat or down slightly.

    Finally, analysts will want to hear what CEO Jamie Dimon has to say about the economy and his expectations for the banking industry. Dimon has been vocal in his opposition against proposed increases in capital requirements.

    Shares of JPMorgan have climbed 8.7% year to date, far outperforming the 19% decline of the KBW Bank Index.

    Wells Fargo and Citigroup are scheduled to release results later Friday morning. Bank of America and Goldman Sachs report Tuesday, and Morgan Stanley discloses results on Wednesday.

    This story is developing. Please check back for updates.

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