Amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon told investors that we are living in “the most dangerous time the world has seen in decades.”
In a release accompanying the bank’s quarterly earnings report Oct. 13, Dimon warned that Russia’s war in Ukraine and the latest flare-up in the Israel-Hamas conflict would lead to “far-reaching impacts” to the global economy.
“The war in Ukraine compounded by last week’s attacks on Israel may have far-reaching impacts on energy and food markets, global trade, and geopolitical relationships,” Dimon said.
“This may be the most dangerous time the world has seen in decades. While we hope for the best, we prepare the Firm for a broad range of outcomes so we can consistently deliver for clients no matter the environment.”
Dimon said the bank was also considering the impact of a tight labour market.
“Currently, U.S. consumers and businesses generally remain healthy, although, consumers are spending down their excess cash buffers. However, persistently tight labor markets as well as extremely high government debt levels with the largest peacetime fiscal deficits ever are increasing the risks that inflation remains elevated and that interest rates rise further from here.”
He also said they were keeping an eye on the longer-term consequences of quantitative tightening.
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That same day, Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem was asked about the conflict on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) annual meeting in Morocco.
“It’s far too early to tell. And it really depends on to what extent … this escalates,” Macklem told reporters during a virtual roundtable.
Earlier in the week, the International Monetary Fund shared similar sentiments, with chief economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas saying it’s “too early” to assess the impact on global economic growth from the conflict, while adding the IMF was “monitoring the situation closely.”
Hospitals in Gaza faced collapse Monday as water, power and medicine neared depletion, while hundreds of thousands of Palestinians faced dwindling food supplies as Israel maintained its airstrikes in retaliation for last week’s attack by Hamas. Thousands of patients’ lives were at risk, UN officials said, and mediators struggled for a cease-fire to let in aid waiting at the Egyptian border.
More than a week after Israel stopped the entry of essential supplies, all eyes were on the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt. Trucks carrying badly needed aid have waited there for days unable to pass through. Israeli airstrikes last week forced the shutdown of Rafah, Gaza’s only connection to Egypt.
Those fleeing northern Gaza still faced the threat of airstrikes in the south. Before dawn Monday, a strike hit a building in the town of Rafah where three displaced families who fled Gaza City were sheltering. At least 12 people were killed and nine others remained missing, said survivors from the al-Masry, al-Akhras and Hamouda families. The strike reduced the house to a vast crater blanketed with wreckage.
More than 400,000 displaced people in the south were crowded in schools and other facilities of the UN agency for Palestinians, UNRWA. But the agency can’t provide them aid, leaving them to search for water and food. UNRWA said it has only one litre of water a day for each of its staff members trapped in the territory.
— with files from The Associated Press and The Canadian Press