- In today’s CEO Daily: Diane Brady on JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon’s mentorship of women.
- The big story: Why the U.S. Supreme Court might keep Trump’s tariffs.
- The markets: U.S. futures are up after markets rise in Asia and Europe.
- Plus: All the news and watercooler chat from Fortune.
I wasn’t surprised to see JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon on stage yesterday at Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Summit. I’ve interviewed several women leaders over the years—TIAA CEO Thasunda Brown Duckett, Travelers Chief Marketing Officer Lisa Caputo, Mary Callahan Erdoes, who runs JPMorgan Chase’s Asset & Wealth Management, and veteran finance executive Heidi Miller, among others—who consider Dimon an important mentor. Women make up half of JPMorgan’s board and seven of the 13 members of its operating committee.
Dimon spoke with Fortune editor-in-chief Alyson Shontell about topics ranging from AI to blockchain, which you can read about here and here. Fresh from reporting a banner quarter, the bank chief expounded on AI, gold, regulation, jobs, tariffs, debt, government waste, New York’s mayoral race, and “the need to keep the Western world together economically.” You can check out the full interview here.
And here’s what I’ve gleaned from attendees, when it comes to Dimon’s mentorship approach:
Bet on Winners: Dimon helps people who’ve earned his respect and trust, whether it’s hiring people like Miller at multiple companies or advising Duckett during her inaugural year as CEO of TIAA. That instinct isn’t limited to women: Wells Fargo’s Charlie Scharf comes to mind. Dimon says he’s guided by performance, not gender or loyalty. To do otherwise, in his view, is a disservice to the team.
Share your network: Lisa Caputo met Dimon after he’d been fired from Citigroup and she had just arrived there. As she put it yesterday: “I was trying to build a women’s business from scratch. Every time Jamie would call, he would give me the names of three people to talk to inside the company, and he would also ask me what I’d learned so far. Through my conversations with him, he was literally helping me shape what the business model could look like.”
Go Beyond Borders: Anyone who launches a $1.5 trillion initiative is seeking a purpose beyond their own company. After almost two decades as CEO, Dimon expects ambitious people may leave. Part of his job is to help good people become better leaders wherever they go. The world needs more of them. Relationships matter. And having friends in far places helps a leader learn.
Contact CEO Daily via Diane Brady at diane.brady@fortune.com
Top news
Why the U.S. Supreme Court might keep Trump’s tariffs
On their face, President Trump’s trade tariffs are illegal because Congress did not approve them and because routine trade is not the “emergency” that Trump claims. But the U.S. Supreme Court may rule to leave them in place anyway because of the logistical difficulty of undoing them, according to former Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar. “The government is coming to court and saying, ‘We would have to unwind billions or trillions of dollars. It could bankrupt our nation,’” she said.
Trump considers cooking oil ban for China
“I believe that China purposefully not buying our Soybeans, and causing difficulty for our Soybean Farmers, is an Economically Hostile Act. We are considering terminating business with China having to do with Cooking Oil, and other elements of Trade, as retribution. As an example, we can easily produce Cooking Oil ourselves, we don’t need to purchase it from China,” the president said on Truth Social. Investors took it as a signal that there would be no immediate compromise in the trade war, sending the S&P 500 down 0.16% on the day.
Trump preps list of programs he will eliminate
The U.S. government shutdown shows no sign of coming to an end. Yesterday the president said he was drawing up a list of “egregious socialist, semi-communist” government programs that he would eliminate permanently if Democrats in Congress don’t help him pass his spending bill. “We're closing up programs ... that we wanted to close up or that we never wanted to happen,” Trump said. “We're not going to let them come back.”
Dimon issues private credit warning: “When you see one cockroach, there are probably more”
JPMorgan Chase wrote off $170 million in debt it was owed in the collapse of auto parts supply company First Brands, the company reported in its Q3 earnings call, and JPM CEO Jamie Dimon warned there may be more cracks in the private credit markets to come: “I probably shouldn’t say this, but when you see one cockroach, there are probably more. Everyone should be forewarned on this one.” Apollo Global Management chief Marc Rowan also warned of “late-cycle accidents” but Blackstone president Jonathan Gray said it was not a systemic problem.
Powell hints at further rate cuts
In a speech on Tuesday, Fed Chair Jerome Powell hinted that the institution is likely to cut rates again as a weak job market trumps inflation concerns. Policy changes may need to “take another step toward a more neutral stance,” Powell said at the National Association for Business Economics.
Amazon is preparing a new round of layoffs
Amazon is planning to lay off as much as 15% of the company’s human resources staff, according to sources familiar with the situation, with other departments likely to be affected as well. Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel declined to comment on the situation.
Mark Cuban says employees deserve more stock
Billionaire Mark Cuban wrote in a post on X that companies should be better incentivized to give shares to their employees as stock gains multiply. The post was in response to a recent report from Oxfam showing that billionaire wealth has increased by $33 trillion since 2015.
Sam Altman says OpenAI will allow “erotica for verified adults”
“Now that we have been able to mitigate the serious mental health issues and have new tools, we are going to be able to safely relax the restrictions in most cases,” he said. Separately, Deutsche Bank reported that subscriptions at OpenAI have “flatlined.”
The markets
S&P 500 futures were up 0.47% this morning. The index closed down 0.16% in its last session. STOXX Europe 600 was up 0.53% in early trading. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 was down 0.31% in early trading. Japan’s Nikkei 225 was up 1.76%. China’s CSI 300 was up 1.48%. The South Korea KOSPI was up 2.68%. India’s Nifty 50 was up 0.76% before the end of the session. Bitcoin was up to $112.9K.
Around the watercooler
Kamala Harris doesn’t believe her presidential run was her finale: A glass cliff ‘suggests finality, and I’m not into that’ by Sydney Lake
From Doritos to Pop-Tarts, Big Food’s $67 billion obsession is protein-packed everything: ‘It’s going to keep coming’ by Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez
‘Bitcoin Jesus’ reaches $50 million deal with DOJ to dismiss tax evasion charges by Ben Weiss
Goldman economists on the Gen Z hiring nightmare: ‘Jobless growth’ is probably the new normal by Nick Lichtenberg
CEO Daily is compiled and edited by Joey Abrams and Jim Edwards.
