From Tesla and JPMorgan to luxury furniture maker RH, top corporate executives in the U.S. this week warned investors of a sluggish economy, raising the volume of warnings about inflationary pressures and a sharp rate hike by the U.S. Federal Reserve.
According to a Archyde.com report on Friday (3rd), Musk, the world’s richest man, told Tesla (TSLA-US) employee said he had “a very bad feeling” about the economy and that the company would need to cut about 10% of its workforce.
Luxury furniture maker RH (RH-US) Chief Executive Gary Friedman, speaking on the impact of inflation on Thursday’s earnings call, said: “We have a long way to go in terms of raising rates to combat inflation. I think it’s best for people to start Now start preparing for everything.”
Musk’s warning appeared to be in stark contrast to Friday’s strong U.S. nonfarm payrolls data. Economists still see a recession within a year as less likely, although the chance of a recession has risen to 30% from 15% in March.
Rick Rieder, chief investment officer of global fixed income at BlackRock, said May employment data may be the last strong report in the near future, and the pace of U.S. companies’ hiring may slow down next. U.S. reports on Friday showed that the expansion of the services sector cooled in May, with the ISM non-manufacturing index falling to 55.9, the lowest since February last year.
Wall Street has warned
Worries about the economic outlook were particularly evident among Wall Street executives. Earlier this week, JPMorgan (JPM-US) CEO Jamie Dimon told investors to prepare for an “economic hurricane” from the Fed and Russia-Ukraine conflict, a marked departure from his claim last month that “the dark clouds over the U.S. economy may dissipate.” .
A day later, Goldman Sachs (GS-US) President John Waldron warned that the current environment is one of the most challenging in his career, and the confluence of various shocks will bring “an unprecedented blow” to the system.
Citigroup (C-US.
Some banking executives maintain confidence in the continued consumption of the American people, and Bank of America (BAC-US) retail bank president Holly O’Neill said that the backbone of the US economy has yet to show signs of starting to crumble.