Dimon says rates risk going much higher even after bond selloff

JPMorgan Chase chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon speaks during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos on January 21, 2026. Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP via Getty Images

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Jamie Dimon said interest rates may climb much higher from current levels, a warning to bond investors at a time when yields have touched multi-year highs.

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“They could be much higher than they are today,” the chairman and chief executive of JPMorgan Chase & Co. said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. “We may have gone from a saving glut to not enough savings.”

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Dimon’s view comes as long-dated bonds have come under pressure on concern that higher oil prices may compel central banks to raise interest rates. Add in worries over government spending in Japan, the U.K. and the U.S., as well as an artificial intelligence boom supporting growth in the world’s biggest economy, and investors have been seeking greater compensation to own longer-maturity debt.

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“Bond rates can go up,” Dimon said. “The notion that somehow people say they will never go up is the wrong notion. Companies like us prepare for higher rates, lower rates.”

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Yields on 30-year Treasuries rose to levels last seen in 2007 this week while the rate on two-year securities climbed to the highest since February 2025. The moves reflect investors’ worries about the inflationary impact of the Iran war and deficit risks in the world’s biggest economy.

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With little sign that the Middle East conflict will be resolved anytime soon, traders are penciling in a 70 per cent chance of a quarter-point United States Federal Reserve rate hike by December, with a 25-basis point increase by March seen as a virtual certainty. That compares with expectations for more than two quarter-point rate cuts by the end of the year before the Iran war broke out, swaps show.

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“U.S. government debt is US$30 trillion, the average rate is 3.5 per cent. Even today they can’t possibly refinance it lower than that rate,” Dimon said. “They have another US$2 trillion to do this year but the thing is we don’t know when — we don’t know when the world gets too scared about that, when inflation makes it where people don’t want to own long-term duration securities.”

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He added that the impact will also be felt in the credit market.

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“Rates can easily go up more, and credit spreads can go up more,” Dimon said. “At one point you’re going to have lots of people having to refinance at higher rates.”

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