Jamie Dimon Warns of Unprecedented Trifecta

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon is out with his annual letter to shareholders, which Axios notes is closely watched in financial circles. The Wall Street Journal finds that it's less rosy than last year, when he saw a potential "Goldilocks" moment of sustained growth on the horizon. This year, Dimon warns that higher-than-expected inflation and the Ukraine war have thrown two big wrenches into the mix, on top of the "dramatic stimulus-fueled recovery" from the pandemic. Those three factors are important on their own, but "they present completely different circumstances than what we've experienced in the past—and their confluence may dramatically increase the risks ahead," Dimon writes. While it's possible "all of these events will have peaceful resolutions, we should prepare for the potential negative outcomes." Other highlights:

• Big loss: Dimon for the first time put a number on the bank's potential losses in Russia because of the war, and it's a big one: $1 billion, reports Reuters.
• More on Russia: "The war in Ukraine and the sanctions on Russia, at a minimum, will slow the global economy—and it could easily get worse," he writes, per CNBC. He called for new investments in energy to help the West do without Russian oil.
• Hindsight: As for the big US stimulus measures related to COVID, Dimon writes that "the medicine ... was probably too much and lasted too long." Going forward, he warned that the Federal Reserve may move interest rates "significantly higher than the markets expect."
• Summing up: "We are facing challenges at every turn: a pandemic, unprecedented government actions, a strong recovery after a sharp and deep global recession, a highly polarized US election, mounting inflation, a war in Ukraine, and dramatic economic sanctions against Russia."

(More Jamie Dimon stories.)