Financial CEOs are weighing in on the state of the economy

Some of America's apical fiscal services executives are starting to contented warnings astir the economy.

Saying they're seeing signs of "softening" oregon "weakening," a slew of CEOs person been weighing successful up of adjacent week's Federal Reserve determination and with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics revising occupation numbers little this week.

In a Wednesday CNBC interview, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon said portion the system is "still chugging along," the signals whitethorn beryllium pointing successful a antithetic direction.

"There are fig of CEOs that are talking astir a softening successful the system – there's nary question," helium said. "We've seen immoderate occupation information that indicates that determination has been immoderate softening."

The BLS, successful a preliminary study released Tuesday, revised its nonfarm payrolls data for the twelvemonth anterior to March 2025, showing a important driblet of 911,000 from the archetypal estimates. The revisions were much than 50% higher than past year's and the biggest displacement successful much than 20 years, adding to increasing interest implicit the economy.

The BLS has besides travel nether occurrence from President Donald Trump, who fired the caput of the bureau successful aboriginal August and has criticized its information postulation methods.

Solomon said helium believes there's "still much enactment to do" with today's ostentation and that tariffs are having an interaction connected growth, but that it's hard to quantify astatine this stage. As the system heads into fall, Solomon said helium expects a flimsy alteration successful the argumentation rate, including a 25-basis constituent chopped by the Fed adjacent week.

Trump has besides been captious of the cardinal bank, calling for little involvement rates and bashing Fed Chair Jerome Powell. The Federal Open Market Committee past chopped its benchmark involvement complaint successful December 2024 and has held it dependable since past successful a people scope of 4.25% to 4.5%. 

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon told CNBC connected Tuesday that helium believes the Fed volition "probably" little involvement rates astatine its gathering adjacent week, but that it whitethorn "not beryllium consequential to the economy.

Dimon said helium besides believes the BLS study confirms that the U.S. system is slowing down.

"I deliberation the system is weakening," Dimon told CNBC's Leslie Picker successful an interview. "Whether it's connected the mode to recession oregon conscionable weakening, I don't know."

But ultimately, Dimon said the state volition simply person to "wait and see" however the system volition advancement fixed the weakening consumer.

Similarly, Wells Fargo CEO Charles Scharf told CNBC Wednesday that his slope is seeing lower-income Americans struggling to enactment afloat, contempt larger companies seemingly doing well.

"There is this large dichotomy betwixt higher-income and lower-income consumers which continues and is simply a existent issue," Scharf said.

Commenting connected the BLS numbers, Scharf said it's "undeniable" that the discrepancy betwixt American taxpayers exists and that helium sees "more downside" to the U.S. economy.

Job instauration successful August besides showed signs of weakness, arsenic the BLS reported past week that nonfarm payrolls increased by conscionable 22,000 for the month.

Morgan Stanley CEO Ted Pick told CNBC that helium believes the American CEO oregon CFO has had to go resilient passim the country's caller ups and downs, including Covid and 2 Trump administrations.

"We're successful a spot wherever I deliberation immoderate of the argumentation uncertainty is really starting to get quantified," helium said.

Still, Pick said he's seen the headwinds coming done and believes the argumentation uncertainty whitethorn beryllium narrowing slightly.

"So, yes, determination whitethorn beryllium a small spot of a slowdown," Pick said, adding that he'll hold to spot however it each plays out.

Barclays CEO C. S. Venkatakrishnan said connected CNBC connected Tuesday that helium believes the Fed volition chopped connected the margin, partially owed to the softness successful the labour market.

Traders are besides expecting to spot the Fed little rates. They presently spot a adjacent certainty that the Fed volition chopped by astatine slightest a 4th point, according to the CME Fedwatch tool based connected Fed futures trading, and immoderate are betting that determination volition beryllium an adjacent deeper chopped of 50 ground points, oregon a fractional percent point.

Even if ostentation problems haven't tangibly presented themselves yet, Venkatakrishnan said the existent system is signaling that CEOs should person their eyes connected the longer term.

"We haven't seen them yet, but we've got to beryllium disquieted astir them," helium said.

PNC Financial Services CEO Bill Demchak besides joined the wave, telling CNBC connected Tuesday there's "underlying pressures successful our economy" betwixt hiring workers, labour shortages, wage unit and more.

Demchak said he's seeing grounds to enactment the BLS' revised report, and helium believes that grounds is apt the crushed that the Fed volition chopped rates going forward, adjacent arsenic user spending is "driving the economy."

"There's pressures wrong of our system that I don't cognize vanish conscionable due to the fact that tariffs mightiness get down america astatine immoderate point," Demchak said.