Wall Street Today | JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon: Fitch Downgrade ‘Doesn’t Really Matter That Much'

The Fitch Ratings downgrade of the United States’ long-term credit rating ultimately doesn’t matter, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon told CNBC on Wednesday.

“It doesn’t really matter that much” because it’s the market, not rating agencies, that determines borrowing costs, Dimon told CNBC’s Leslie Picker.

The move by Fitch Ratings to downgrade US government credit has put a renewed focus on the nation’s debt trajectory, just when the world’s largest economy is shaking off forecasts for a looming recession.

The decision by Fitch to lower the US sovereign credit grade one level from AAA to AA+ highlights the debt pile that the US has built up in recent years, largely due to pandemic stimulus as well as tax cuts. More recently, the government has also launched investment programs for infrastructure, technology and clean energy. Meanwhile the cost of borrowing has soared as the Fed pushed interest rates to a 22-year high.

Economists at Bank of America became the first group at a major bank to back away from a forecast that a recession is on the way. Others may follow, possibly swiftly.

US companies added more jobs in July than expected, highlighting the persistent strength of the labor market.

Private payrolls increased by 324,000 last month, according to figures published Wednesday by the ADP Research Institute in collaboration with Stanford Digital Economy Lab. That exceeded all estimates in a Bloomberg survey of economists.

A record drop in US crude inventories is failing to lift a market that has seen a recent rally squelched by concerns about the macroeconomic outlook.

West Texas Intermediate halted its recent rally, settling below $80 on Wednesday. Traders said markets are partly ignoring a government report that showed a 17.05 million-barrel plunge in US crude stockpiles last week because its so-called adjustment factor — akin to a margin of error — continues to swing wildly.

The company is exposed to the slumping smartphone industry because it makes the processors at the heart of most high-end Android devices.

Handset chip sales declined 25% year-over-year to $5.26 billion.

The company on Wednesday reported net income attributable to common stockholders of $605 million, of 63 cents a share, compared with $2.55 billion, or $2.52 a share, in the year-ago quarter. Adjusted for certain items, the company said per-share earnings were 68 cents.

Costco’s same-store sales rose 2.5% compared to a year prior, the retailer said. Before July, same-store sales had declined for two consecutive months, down 1.4% in June and 0.3% in May.

The savings account, which is offered by Goldman, lets holders of the co-branded Apple Card credit card stash their rewards while earning interest.

The e-commerce company reported a comprehensive loss of $1.30 billion, or $1.02 a share, whereas it logged a loss of $1.21 billion, or 95 cents a share, in the year-earlier period.