What keeps big bank CEOs up at night

Jamie Dimon’s annual letter to shareholders is usually a sprawling document, but this year one line of thinking stood out: the JP Morgan Chase CEO is “quite worried about inflation not calming back down to the two percent level that the Fed wants.” That assessment, relayed by Marketplace’s Kaylee Wells, set the tone for a Morning Report episode that moved from the anxieties of the biggest bank in America to the ambitions of a small rocket company in Maine.

What keeps Jamie Dimon awake

Dimon’s cautionary letter landed as a useful temperature check on how the leader of the largest U.S. bank views the economy right now. University of Michigan economist Ari Schwader, who reviewed the letter, said Dimon is right to be worried. The reasons are concrete: government debt, tariffs, and fiscal stimulus are all pushing in the same direction, making it harder for inflation to settle back to the Federal Reserve’s 2 percent target. Add in supply chain disruptions and market uncertainty tied to war, and the effect ripples outward. Schwader noted that this environment directly affects banks’ willingness to lend, which in turn makes it harder for people to get mortgages, car loans, and other credit.