JPMorgan boss Jamie Dimon says the Fed could hike interest rates as many as 7 times this year

Jamie Dimon is the chairman and CEO of JP Morgan Chase.

The images are by Misha Friedman.

The Federal Reserve could be more aggressive in fighting inflation than people think, according to Jamie Dimon, the top executive at JP Morgan.
"My view is that there will be more than four," he said during the call. "It could be six or seven."

The CEO told CNBC he would be surprised if the central bank hiked rates only four times, since he expects inflation to remain above the 2% target by the end of the year.

Higher interest rates would cause investors to change their projections and look at businesses differently.

Other Wall Street commentators have a forecast that is roughly double that of Dimon's.
Goldman said it expects the Fed to raise rates four times this year after the unemployment rate fell in December. The central bank holds almost $9 trillion worth of bonds. Bank of America sees three rate rises this year, whileDeutsche Bank sees four.

The stock markets were roiled in early 2022, due to expectations that the Fed will start to reduce its balance sheet and that this will end the central bank's support of the US economy.
Most Wall Street economists expect the Fed to take a more cautious course of action. The Federal Open Market Committee's December meeting estimates show that interest rates will be raised three times in the next two years.

The new projections followed a meeting in which officials doubled the pace of asset purchases. The new schedule shows the program ending in March, suggesting the first rate increase could come as early as the March meeting.

Powell said during his Tuesday confirmation hearing that the central bank is open to raising rates further in 2022. Powell told the Senate Banking Committee that the economy doesn't need this highly accommodative stance to continue its recovery.

The chair said that if interest rates have to be raised more, then they will. We need price stability to get a long expansion.

Powell said that inflation will start to ease by the second half of the century. The data showed that prices went up 7% in December, the fastest pace since 1982, and slightly faster than in November. Growth slowed for the second month in a row, signaling that inflation may have peaked in the fourth quarter.

It would take a major slowdown in inflation to get to the Fed's 2% target. With the supply-chain mess healing and Americans' spending slowing, it might not take seven rate hikes by the end of the year.

Business Insider has an original article.