Big Bank CEOs still see a resilient US economy — with some caveats

The heads of 3 of the country’s biggest banks spot a US system inactive powered by businesses and a remarkably beardown American consumer.

But they besides gave immoderate cautionary notes.

The CEOs of JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Bank of America (BAC), and Wells Fargo (WFC) said they inactive spot different beardown 4th for their Wall Street and Main Street franchises connected Wednesday during Bernstein’s Strategic Decisions Conference successful New York.

“Things are inactive extremely, highly strong,” Wells Fargo CEO Charles Scharf said. Although user sentiment is sitting astatine a grounds low, “consumer walk is really adjacent stronger than it was a mates of weeks ago, a mates of months ago.”

“Oil [prices] being higher for longer,” tin alteration that,” helium added, noting that the terms of lipid is already acceptable to beryllium “higher than radical astir apt initially expected.”

Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan said, “People are spending money, and that’s because, frankly, they’re employed.” Higher user spending truthful acold this period isn’t coming astatine the disbursal of much indebtedness delinquencies either, helium added.

Business clients “say they’re not increasing inventories … arsenic overmuch arsenic they mightiness different bash if they had much assurance successful what the adjacent six months were going to look like,” Scharf noted. But they are “still financially very, precise strong.”

Bank of America Global Research precocious lowered its forecast for US economical maturation successful 2026 to 2.2%, down from the mid-2% gait it projected astatine the opening of the year. But Moynihan said the maturation projection is “reasonably strong” compared to the past “15, 20 years.”

Small and medium-size businesses are “trying to marque definite they’re grounded” aft the onset of the Iran warfare and the Supreme Court’s ruling connected tariffs this spring. “Still, they’re borrowing a small more,” Moynihan added.

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Wall Street remains the large maturation communicative for these lending giants, with each CEO saying their banks are poised to present sizable gross increases from trading and dealmaking.

The upbeat Wall Street representation comes as all 3 banks are progressive successful taking nationalist Elon Musk’s monster rocket company, SpaceX (SPAX.PVT). With imaginable OpenAI (OPAI.PVT) and Anthropic (ANTH.PVT) IPOs connected the horizon, this could enactment 2026 astatine grounds IPO gait — but the model for that benignant of enactment tin “can adjacent tomorrow,” based connected marketplace conditions, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said.

Meanwhile, the little predictable trading divisions proceed to churn retired higher fees, each of the CEOs acknowledged.