JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon Says It’s a Bad Idea to Interfere With the Fed

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0:33Alex Ossola:J.P. Morgan's CEO defends the Fed, warning that interference would push up rates. Plus, inflation holds steady at 2.7 percent in December. And President Trump tells Iranian protesters that, quote, help is on its way. We do know that officials are preparing just a lot of options for him. Whenever Trump is ready to make a decision on what he wants to do, things will move. It's Tuesday, January 13th. I'm Alex Osula for The Wall Street Journal. This is the PM edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories that move the world today.

1:09Alex Ossola:On Wall Street today, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon defended the Federal Reserve after it was subpoenaed by the Justice Department. Dimon told reporters that anything that, quote, chips away at the Fed's independence was a bad idea and could have consequences like increasing inflation and interest rates over time. Diamond's comments came after J.P. Morgan reported its earnings for the fourth quarter. The bank said its profit fell 7%, dragged down by a$2.2 billion charge from its deal to take over the Apple credit card program and a surprising slip in investment banking fees. But it still saw revenue increase for both the quarter and the year.

1:44Alex Ossola:I'm joined now by WSJ reporter Alexander Saidi, who covers banking and finance. Alex, I want to start with Diamond's comments about Fed Chair Jerome Powell and the Fed. Central banks around the world, former Fed and Treasury officials and several U.S. lawmakers have spoken out this week defending Powell or expressing concern about the investigation into him. How much does Diamond's comment reflect the broader feeling on Wall Street in particular? Yeah, it's very representative of I think the view among executives and banks, hedge funds, asset managers that the independence of the Federal Reserve is a third rail, not something you want to interfere with because as we've seen in many countries around the world, when politics become a factor in how central bankers set monetary policy, you lose trust from investors.

2:35And that's exactly what has set America apart from a lot of other countries historically. And that's what the stewards of these large financial institutions want to ensure remains. Without it, their ability to invest is curtailed. The appetite for investment goes down. So it's not surprising to hear Diamond come out swinging on this. And he was probably one of the first big Wall Street executives to speak out since the news of the subpoenas went public over the weekend.

3:08Alex Ossola:Shifting now to focus on what J.P. Morgan's earnings tell us about the consumer. On a call this morning, Diamond warned that there were big geopolitical risks, but overall, he was upbeat about the state of the economy. In the short run, called six months and nine months and even a year, you know, it's pretty positive. You know, consumers have money. There's still jobs, even though it's weakened a little bit. But there's a huge, there is a lot of stimulus coming from one big, beautiful bill. Alex, what do J.P. Morgan's numbers tell us? J.P. Morgan's customer leans a little affluent. They're the biggest bank in the country, so they cover a lot of people.

3:42So there's a slight bias in what they report towards your sort of upper middle class segment. But overall, they were reporting really good credit metrics. You know, 90-day plus delinquencies were down versus a year ago on credit cards. spending is up 7 % year over year on debit and credit cards. And the bank executives were saying consumers are spending, they seem confident. Most income groups in the country seem to be improving or at least having more confidence, which is a little different from the alternative economic narrative of the very wealthy are doing well while those in lower income segments are doing worse.

4:22According to the executives, it seems like in general the trajectory is good.

4:26Alex Ossola:That was WSJ reporter Alexander Saidi. Thanks, Alex. Thank you.

4:34Alex Ossola:The latest government report on inflation shows that prices for goods and services rose 2.7 percent from a year ago in December. That's holding steady from a month earlier and in line with economists' expectations, even with the turbulence from tariffs. WSJ economics correspondent Harriet Torrey said these numbers probably don't do much to change the Fed's calculus. So this is still above the Fed's target, which is 2 % year over year, but it shows that inflation is not accelerating. And in fact, inflation is down from the beginning of last year. Right now, the December reading isn't likely to change the Fed's wait and see posture at its meeting in January, because officials probably want to see more evidence that inflation is leveling off before it cut rates further.

5:17And then in 2026, tax cuts from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act are likely to put a bit more money in the pockets of consumers. So economists say that could be a driver for inflation. So the Fed probably wants to see some more evidence either that job market conditions are weakening or that price pressures are fading.

5:36Alex Ossola:Prices are still rising on a lot of things that are important to people, however, something that politicians have picked up on as they increasingly talk about affordability. One thing we did see in this report that was somewhat worrying is that some key households line items saw some big price increases in December. So for instance, food went up by 0.7 % from the prior month, and that was the largest month-every-month increase since October 2022. And we also saw increases in things like rent, some transportation costs. Those are big items that people have to spend on every month, and those price increases are a bit of a strain for consumers.

6:11Alex Ossola:You heard us mention JP Morgan's results earlier. Its fourth quarter profit slipped and while revenue grew, Wall Street expected more. The bank's shares dropped 4.2 percent, weighing on the Dow, which closed down 0.8 percent. The S &P and the Nasdaq also slipped.

6:30Alex Ossola:Delta Airlines said today that it wants to sell more premium seats in first and business class. It's hoping that customers willing to pay more for their seats boost its profits this year. The airline posted stronger operating revenue for the latest quarter and says growth is accelerating, but an adjusted revenue figure for last quarter came in below analyst expectations. Shares fell more than 2 % today. And Microsoft has promised to pay higher utility bills for all of its U.S. data centers that are powering AI models. It's a move that's intended to address local fears that AI is pushing up electricity prices, and Microsoft's plan drew praise from President Trump.

7:09Alex Ossola:Coming up, Trump rules out talks with Iran, and the journals take away from the transgender sports cases that the Supreme Court heard today. That's after the break.

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7:56Alex Ossola:President Trump has ruled out talks with Iranian officials and said Americans in Iran should evacuate the country. Speaking at the Detroit Economic Club this afternoon, President Trump encouraged Iranians to keep protesting. And I've canceled all meetings with the Iranian officials until the senseless killing of protesters stops. And all I say to them is help is on its way. You saw that I put tariffs on anybody doing business with Iran. Just went into effect today. And I say make Iran great again. An Iranian human rights group says more than 2 ,000 people have died in the unrest there. The Iranian government has shut down the Internet and says it'll crack down on demonstrations.

8:37Alex Ossola:For more on the growing tensions between the U.S. and Iran, I'm joined now by WSJ national security reporter Alex Ward. Alex, where do we stand in terms of Trump's plans for Iran? We're a bit at a standstill. I mean, he's been pretty open about wanting to do something. And he's used pretty forceful language, including telling the Iranians, you know, if you start shooting at protesters, we'll shoot too. Signaling that Americans in Iran should probably get out of the country, which is usually a sign of things to come. We know that the president has been briefed by some senior officials on a suite of options available to him.

9:08Trump said no to the diplomatic options, in which case it leaves him with a range of quote unquote non-kinetic options. So that's cyber attacks, sanctions, basically anything that isn't military force and then also military force. We know that Tuesday morning Trump did not attend a meeting of senior officials, which he was expected to attend. We do know that officials are preparing just a lot of options for him. Whenever Trump is ready to make a decision on what he wants to do, things will move.

9:36Alex Ossola:We're also reporting that a number of Arab states in the Gulf, specifically Saudi Arabia, Oman and Qatar, are privately lobbying the White House to not strike Iran. Why don't they want that? They wouldn't want more instability in the region. If the U.S. were to attack Iran and the Iranians would almost assuredly retaliate against American forces in the region, possibly Israel as well, that would likely incite an American or Israeli response. And that could spiral out of control. And so if you're the Saudis, the Emiratis, the Qataris, the last thing you want is war in your region, on your doorstep, and one that could completely get out of hand.

10:15But Trump likely feels emboldened if he were to pursue the military course. We don't know if he will. for a couple of reasons. One is he's had a lot of military successes lately. The capture of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela, strikes in Somalia and in Nigeria and in Yemen. So he's sort of feeling himself, let's say, and feeling the military option. Also more pertinent to the situation, Trump struck three of Iran's nuclear sites and was able to get a 12-day war between Israel and Iran to stop basically by sheer force of will. So he may feel he's able to contain a conflict, but that is always more of a guess than a guarantee.

10:50Alex Ossola:That was WSJ national security reporter Alex Ward. Thanks, Alex. Yeah, thanks for having me. And separately, the leader of Greenland said that if his people were asked to choose, they would remain a Danish territory rather than join the U.S. The foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland are meeting a White House delegation led by Vice President J.D. Vance tomorrow.

11:13Alex Ossola:Today, the U.S. Supreme Court seemed inclined to uphold state laws banning transgender women and girls from competing in female sports events. The court heard more than three hours of arguments in cases challenging such laws in Idaho and West Virginia. Justices in the court's conservative majority were skeptical that the laws discriminate against transgender athletes. And Justice Brett Kavanaugh highlighted the lack of consensus among states. I guess given that half the states are allowing it, allowing transgender girls and women to participate, about half are not, why would we at this point, just the role of this court, jump in and try to constitutionalize a rule for the whole country while there's still, as you say, uncertainty in debate, while there's still strong interests on the other side?

11:59Alex Ossola:The justices are expected to rule by early July. And South Korean prosecutors have sought the death penalty for the country's former president, Yoon Seok-yeol, who briefly imposed martial law in December 2024. Yoon, who was charged with insurrection, has denied wrongdoing. A verdict is expected next month, but legal proceedings could stretch on for years. South Korea hasn't carried out any executions since 1997. And that's what's news for this Tuesday afternoon. Additional sound today, courtesy of S &P Global Market Intelligence. Today's show is produced by Pierre Bien-Aimé with supervising producer Tali Arbel.

12:35Alex Ossola:I'm Alex Osalev for The Wall Street Journal. We'll be back with a new show tomorrow morning. Thanks for listening.

12:52Hey, this is Telus Demos. And I'm Miriam Gottfried. We're reporters at The Wall Street Journal and the hosts of WSJ's Take on the Week. It's a weekly show that gives listeners a leg up in the world of markets and investing. From the Fed's moves to market bubbles, we dive into the biggest deals, key players, and business news ahead. If you're looking for more news and tools that you can use to help navigate the markets, consider becoming a subscriber to The Wall Street Journal. Visit subscribe.wsj.com slash takeontheweek to subscribe now.