Dimon Says Trump Has Reawakened ‘Animal Spirits’ in US

March 09, 2017 at 09:07 AM
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Jamie Dimon said President Trump's economic agenda has ignited U.S. business and consumer confidence and he expects at least some of the administration's proposals to be enacted.

"It seems like he's woken up the animal spirits," Dimon, chairman and chief executive officer of JPMorgan Chase & Co., said Thursday in a Bloomberg Television interview in Paris. Confidence has "skyrocketed because it's a growth agenda," Dimon said, adding that he's not overly concerned about the possibility of a correction in equities markets, which have surged since the November election.

Dimon, 60, has been a vocal supporter of Trump's business agenda, saying last month that the U.S. has a bright future if the president overhauls taxes, regulations and infrastructure investment.

Since Trump's victory, Dimon was named chairman of the Business Roundtable of almost 200 CEOs and joined Trump's policy forum aimed at boosting job growth. Shares of U.S. banks have climbed on speculation that higher economic growth and interest rates will boost results.

"If he gets it done, even part of it, it will be good for growth, good for jobs, good for Americans," Dimon said. "I'm really confident he will get that done."

Dimon said he's reassured because of the caliber of people Trump has brought on to push the administration's economic policies, including Gary Cohn, the former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. president who's now director of the National Economic Council and a top adviser to Trump.

'Forget the Tweets'

"If you look at the policy, forget the tweets, look at the people on the ground, they're top professionals," Dimon said. "Serious people, with deep knowledge and deep experience — and their mission is to have a growth agenda. And that agenda is reducing corporate taxes; starting to build infrastructure, which we desperately need; reducing some of the regulatory regime, which has probably held back growth."

In the wide-ranging interview, Dimon said he's also pulling for Europe's banks to rebound, arguing that the region's economy can't recover unless the industry is healthy.

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