Bank of America and JPMorgan say U.S. economy is doing well, consumers in good shape despite inflation

Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan and JPMorgan & Chase CEO Jamie Dimon both agree that the U.S. economy is doing well and consumers are in good shape. “Consumers have more money in their accounts than before the pandemic“, said the head of Bank of America.

Bank of America CEO: U.S. economy is in “pretty good shape.”

Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan said last week at the Institute of International Finance (IIF) annual membership meeting in Washington that the U.S. economy is doing well despite inflation, market jitters and international tensions, Bloomberg reports.

Stressing that the Federal Reserve must raise rates to slow inflation and act against the spending forces of U.S. consumers, Brian Moynihan said:

The most difficult challenge for the Fed is actually one of the best things about the U.S. economy – it’s in pretty good shape.

“Consumers basically have more money in their accounts through multiples than they did before the pandemic“, added the Bank of America chief. “They’re making more money. Their credit quality has never been higher. They have more excess capacity.“

At a conference to discuss Bank of America’s third quarter results on Monday, Brian Moynihan said, “Analysts might wonder if talk of inflation, recession and other factors might be influencing in the slowdown in spending growth. We just don’t see that here at Bank of America.“

He revealed that the bank’s customers continue to spend freely. Their transaction volumes were up 10 percent in September and the first half of October compared to a year earlier, while the number of transactions was up 6 percent. In addition, the Bank of America executive said customers’ account balances are higher than they were before the Covid pandemic in early 2020, suggesting they are in a good position to continue spending.

JPMorgan CEO: U.S. economy is doing well

JPMorgan Chase & Co. CEO Jamie Dimon also believes that U.S. consumers are in good shape and that the U.S. economy is doing well.

In an interview with CNBC at the JPM Techstars conference in London last week, the JPMorgan executive said:

Right now, right now, the U.S. economy is still doing well. Consumers have money, they’re spending 10% more than they did last year, their balance sheets are in great shape.

Jamie Dimon added, “Yes, debts have risen a bit, but not near pre-crisis levels. So even if we go into a recession, they will be in much better shape than they were in 2008 and 2009. Businesses are in good shape, credit is very good.“

Nevertheless, the CEO of JPMorgan warned of an economic hurricane or something worse than a recession. He believes a recession could hit the U.S. economy in six months and the stock market could easily fall another 20 percent.