“Real Numbers Will Deteriorate Soon.” JPMorgan Chase Stock (NYSE:JPM) Notches Down on Doomcalling

We have already seen some bad news out of investment bank stock JPMorgan Chase (JPM), and the news keeps on coming. In fact, CEO Jamie Dimon recently came out suggesting that a recession looks more and more likely as days go along. Dimon currently believes there’s “….a chance real numbers will deteriorate soon.” That did JPMorgan no favors with investors, as shares dipped down fractionally in Wednesday afternoon’s trading.

On the surface, Dimon’s calls look like the worst kind of alarmism. After all, total employment growth is on the rise, and has been for some time. So too has consumer spending, which prevents the kind of self-fulfilling prophecy that a decline in spending tends to bring. However, there are some signs of disturbance lurking below, including “weakening confidence in consumers and business leaders” as tariff troubles continue.

But Dimon himself is not looking for particularly big problems, just small problems that may grow with time. “Employment will come down a little bit. Inflation will go up a little bit. Hopefully, it’s just a little bit,” Dimon noted. Dimon even pointed to declining immigration as a potential complication for the broader field.

The Beatings Will Continue Until Morale Improves

We know from earlier reports today that JPMorgan has a morale problem, thanks to the company’s stances on issues like career mobility and employee well-being. That problem just got compounded with a new announcement about what is apparently a common practice in the financial sector: “future-dated job offers.”

The report notes that any junior analyst that accepts another job within 18 months of joining the company will be fired on the spot, regardless of the date of that offer. So even if the analyst in question gets a job offer for five years from joining JPMorgan, that analyst will be fired regardless. The move is designed to pull “conflicts of interest” out of the equation. Further, analysts who fail to show up for summer training or for onboarding sessions can likewise be cut. However, it was not all stick; the carrot to this approach is that JPMorgan has pared back the timeline to go from junior analyst to associate to just 2.5 years instead of the three it was previously.

What Is the Target Price for JPM Stock?

Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus rating on JPM stock based on 14 Buys and seven Holds assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 40.24% rally in its share price over the past year, the average JPM price target of $279.40 per share implies 4.09% upside potential.

See more JPM analyst ratings

Disclosure