Jamie Dimon Warns About a 'Skunk at the Party' in 2026

Jamie Dimon is out with his closely read letter to shareholders, and this year he's worried that a slew of factors—including the wars in Iran and Ukraine and their resulting shocks on oil and commodity prices—will help bring an unwanted visitor:

• "The skunk at the party—and it could happen in 2026—would be inflation slowly going up," wrote the CEO of JPMorgan Chase, reports the Wall Street Journal. "This alone could cause interest rates to rise and asset prices to drop." Dimon warned of a "tipping point" of risks such as rising oil prices coming together to bring about this scenario, per Business Insider.
• But Dimon wasn't exactly critical of the Iran war: "We should not turn a blind eye to the role the current regime in Iran has played in fostering terrorism and killing thousands of people, including Americans and many of its own citizens, over many years," he wrote. "That threat must be addressed in an appropriate manner."

• New York City: Dimon also warned New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani that people "vote with their feet—you can already see a fairly large exodus of people and jobs out of some states with high taxes and high expenses," per Axios. He noted that JPMorgan has reduced its employee count in the city over the past decade while increasing it in Texas. "This trend will likely continue."
• Wall Street: On Wall Street, he sounded alarms about private credit, predicting high-risk loans will be hit harder than investors expect in a downturn, and calling for tougher standards and more transparency as these products are sold to everyday investors.
• Optimism: And he also sounded an optimistic note: "Despite the unsettling landscape, the U.S. economy continues to be resilient, with consumers still earning and spending (though with some recent weakening) and businesses still healthy."