Dimon Says JPMorgan's Rivals Are Doing 'Dumb Things'

"What I think is comments do... is pit him against a kind of raft of emerging kind of Wall Street power players in sort of Marc Rowan... and kind of this kind of new group of private credit titans." The reporter identifies the targets of Dimon's "dumb things" comment as the Private Credit industry (represented by Marc Rowan of Apollo). If Dimon's comparison to the 2008 crisis is accurate, the "boom in all manner of lending products" described by Brown is the bubble that will burst. AVOID or WATCH the Private Credit sector (and leaders like APO) for signs of credit deterioration, as they are the ones aggressively winning the market share Dimon refuses to take. Dimon has been bearish for a long time; if the economy remains resilient ("not a huge amount of stress in the system" per Brown), Private Credit will continue to generate superior yields.

"I see a couple of people doing some dumb things... to create an either or say they're winning in the markets business." Dimon is signaling that JPM is intentionally losing market share in certain areas because the underwriting standards ("dumb things") are too loose. In a scenario comparable to "05 and 06 and 07" (which Dimon cites), the conservative player with the fortress balance sheet outperforms when the credit cycle turns. LONG JPM as a flight-to-quality play against systemic credit risk. If the "soft landing" is perfect and risk-taking continues to be rewarded, JPM may underperform more aggressive rivals in the short term.