JPMorgan Chase Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon told CNBC on Wednesday the economy could grow at 3 to 4 percent this year with the right tax and regulatory reforms from President-elect Donald Trump.
And that, in turn, could boost the stock market even further, Dimon said on “Squawk on the Street” at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
The Dow Jones industrial average, as of Tuesday’s close, has increased about 8.5 percent since Election Day.
“The market pretty much anticipates some of [Trump’s agenda], not all of it, because it hasn’t happened yet,” Dimon said. “They know the sausage is going to be made in taxes. It’s going to take nine months, 12 months. The real detail work has to get done.”
Trump takes the oath of office at his presidential inauguration on Friday.
In the meantime, “everything looks to be pretty good” with the economy right now from more jobs and rising wages, to companies flush with cash and capital markets being wide open, Dimon said.
The economy grew at an annual rate of 3.5 percent in the third quarter of 2016, according to the Commerce Department. But GDP advanced only 1.4 percent in the second quarter, and just a little more than half that in first quarter.
The initial estimate of fourth quarter 2016 GDP is set for release next week. The latest GDPNow forecast from the Atlanta Federal Reserve calls for growth of 2.8 percent.
Last week, following the release of JPMorgan’s better-than-expected earnings and revenue, Dimon said Trump needs time, but he sees the president-elect doing what’s right for the nation.
On Wednesday, Dimon told CNBC he does not consider himself a Democrat or a Republican. “I’ve always tried to think about things independently.”
Dimon said many of Trump’s picks for his Cabinet — including billionaire investor Wilbur Ross at Commerce, Wall Street veteran Steven Mnuchin at Treasury, and former Exxon chief Rex Tillerson at State — are “experienced, successful people” who are ready to go to work to fix America.
The JPMorgan chief said he was not offered the Treasury secretary job and did not want it.
But he said he stands ready to help the Trump administration grow the economy, as a member of the president-elect’s strategic and policy forum and chairman of the CEO advocacy group the Business Roundtable.
Shares of JPMorgan have rallied nearly 20 percent since Election Day — swept up in the broader Trump stock market rally, and the notions that the new administration will reduce banking regulations and push through pro-growth policies that necessitate higher interest rates.
“For banks, the interest rates, obviously we benefit by that,” Dimon told CNBC. “A stronger economy, banks benefit from that. And the third [factor] is some reduced regulatory environment, banks may benefit from that. It remains to be seen.”
At its December meeting, the Fed signaled three more rate hikes for 2017, after raising the cost of borrowing money last month for the second time in a decade. The previous rate hike was in December 2015.
On Tuesday from Davos, Bank of America Chairman and CEO Brian Moynihan told CNBC rates have been going up for the right reasons, including rising wages and a growing economy.
