JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon: It's time for the Fed to raise rates
Get on with it!
That's how JPMorgan Chase (JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon feels when it comes to the much-anticipated interest rate hike the market has been worrying about from the Federal Reserve.
"Let's just raise rates," Dimon said, speaking in an interview with Carlyle Group (CG) CEO David Rubenstein on Monday at the Economic Club of Washington. "Twenty-five basis points is a drop in the bucket."
He went on to say he would rather see the Fed raise sooner rather than later, and said that at a positive point in the U.S. economy, "you don't want to be behind the 8-ball" when it comes to a rate hike. The Federal Reserve, after one interest rate hike in late 2015, has been weighing whether to raise rates again in 2016, although global economic factors have complicated the decision-making process. Because an interest rate hike translates into banks being able to charge a higher percentage to borrowers , a move by the Federal Open Market Committee to increase rates would be a boost for Wall Street banks' stocks.
Dimon also cautioned that the Brexit vote could cause the Eurozone to "unravel," which he said could bring catastrophic consequences along with it.
The two Wall Street titans also talked about the job market — that is to say, their own.
Rubenstein admitted on stage, while interviewing Dimon that he tried to hire the JPMorgan Chase CEO "unsuccessfully, every time."
Rubenstein wasn't the only one who sought Dimon's services. After his firing from Citigroup (NYSE: C) in 1999, Dimon weighed work with Home Depot (HD), among other companies. Without being too specific, Dimon said that after his career at JPMorgan Chase ends, he would "maybe do something to help the government out, somewhere," but made it clear that this decision is years away.
But when Rubenstein pressed Dimon for how he would respond if the next president of the United States offered him the role of leading the Treasury Department, the bank CEO turned the tables.
"I'd say, ask David Rubenstein," Dimon said, drawing a laugh from the audience.