The CEO of JPMorgan Chase, Jamie Dimon, said Monday that the largest bank in the United States is accumulating large amounts of cash in the face of an increase in inflation, in order to benefit from an eventual increase in interest rates. .
“If you look at our balance sheet, we have 500 billion (dollars) in cash. In fact we have been accumulating more and more cash waiting for opportunities to invest at higher rates, “said Dimon during a virtual conference.
According to the head of JPMorgan, the bank hopes that inflation in the United States will not be a temporary phenomenon, but will lead to higher interest rates, and is “prepared for that.”
“We have a lot of cash and capacity and we are going to be very patient, because I think there is a good chance that inflation will be more than transitory,” said Dimon.
The debate on rising prices in the United States has heated up in recent weeks, after learning that the consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.6% in May and has placed year-on-year inflation at 5%, the figure highest since August 2008.
If food and fuel prices, which are the most volatile, are excluded, core inflation last month was 0.7% and 3.8% in the last 12 months, the highest since 1992.
The Federal Reserve (Fed), however, has rejected inflationary pressures in the country due to the extraordinary fiscal stimulus deployed and the increase in demand as restrictions are lifted due to the improvement of the pandemic in the country.
Its president, Jerome Powell, has acknowledged that there will be notable price increases, but that they will be “transitory” in nature, so he has insisted that he does not plan to modify the central bank’s interest rates, currently between 0% and 0.25% in the remainder of the year.
