Serious market correction could come in the next six months, says America’s top banker

The head of JP Morgan, Jamie Dimon said he is  “far more worried than others” about a serious market correction, which he said could come in the next six months to two years.

Dimon, who leads America’s largest bank, told the BBC that there is a higher risk of a serious fall in US stocks than is currently being reflected in the market.

In a rare and wide-ranging interview, the bank boss also said that the US had become a “less reliable” partner on the world stage.

He cautioned he was still “a little worried” about inflation in the US, but insisted he thought the Federal Reserve would remain independent, despite repeated attacks by the Trump administration on its chair Jerome Powell.

Dimon was in Bournemouth, where he was announcing an investment of about £350million in JP Morgan’s campus there, as well as a £3.5million philanthropic investment in local non-profits.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves the investment was “fantastic news for the local economy and people who live” in Dorset.

Ahead of the interview, Dimon appeared before a town hall on the campus – cutting a figure more akin to an off-duty rock star than bank CEO – wearing an open-collar shirt and jeans, and high-fiving staff on his way to the stage.

Opening with his take on the UK’s economy, Dimon said he felt Rachel Reeves was doing a “terrific job”, and he felt optimistic about some of the government’s attempts to boost innovation and cut regulation.

However, in the broader economic picture, he felt there were increased risks US stock markets were overheated.

“I am far more worried about that than others,” he said.

There were a “lot of things out there” creating an atmosphere of uncertainty, he added, pointing to risk factors like the geopolitical environment, fiscal spending and the remilitarisation of the world.

“All these things cause a lot of issues that we don’t know how to answer,” he said.

“So I say the level of uncertainty should be higher in most people’s minds than what I would call normal.”

Much of the rapid growth in the stock market in recent years has been driven by investment in AI.

On Wednesday, the Bank of England drew a comparison with the dot com boom (and subsequent bust) of the late 1990s – and warned that the value of AI tech companies “appear stretched” with a rising risk of a “sharp correction”.

“The way I look at it is AI is real, AI in total will pay off,” he said.

“Just like cars in total paid off, and TVs in total paid off, but most people involved in them didn’t do well.”

He added some of the money being invested in AI would “probably be lost”.