JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon says investors should brace themselves for more headwinds after a crash in U.K. government bonds last month nearly caused the crash of hundreds of that country’s pension funds.
The turmoil, triggered after the value of U.K. gilts nosedived in reaction to fiscal spending announcements, forced the country’s central bank into a series of interventions to prop up its markets.
“I was surprised to see how much leverage there was in some of those pension plans,” Dimon told analysts Friday in a conference call to discuss third-quarter results. “My experience in life has been when you have things like what we’re going through today, there are going to be other surprises.”
The Federal Reserve’s aim to tame high inflation here in the U.S. has been felt worldwide. A historic surge in the dollar’s value has pushed down overseas currencies and sovereign debt and complicated other countries’ battle with inflation.
“Someone is going to be off-sides,” Dimon said. “We don’t see anything that looks systemic, but there is leverage in certain credit portfolios, there’s leverage in certain companies, so you’re probably going to see some of that.”
