In a Thursday interview with CNBC’s Jim Cramer, First Horizon CEO Bryan Jordan said his hopes for interest rate cuts in 2025 are fairly tempered.
“We use three cuts in 2025…I’m a little more cautious than that,” Jordan said. “If the economy holds up, you see job growth remain strong, you see inflation, which is still running a bit higher than the Fed would like, I think you’ll see rates stay in this area.”
He doesn’t think rates will rise, he continued, but they won’t drop as much as the market “might be optimistically hoping for.” The Federal Reserve lowered interest rates three times at the end of 2024, but it indicated there would be fewer to come at its last meeting. Mixed data about inflation has much of Wall Street split about if and how many reductions will occur over the course of the year.
Jordan also reflected on the company’s most recent quarter, which was posted Thursday morning. First Horizon saw an earnings beat and a slight revenue miss. It failed to impress the market and boost the stock, with shares closing down 0.37%. Jordan said he’s optimistic about business, and First Horizon has a lot of borrowers that “are starting to build loan pipeline, loan demand,” predicting the bank would “see an uplift here in the early part of 2025.” Jordan added that he thinks the balance sheet should perform well notwithstanding the direction of the rate curve.
First Horizon is a regional bank doing business primarily in the south. According to Jordan, that area is poised to perform better than the economy as a whole, adding that he’s encouraged by demographic trends he’s seen.
“The southern footprint that we represent is going to show phenomenal outperformance vis-Ã -vis the U.S. economy over the next several years,” Jordan said. “I think from a policy perspective, whether it’s around taxation, right to work and the ability to, to grow businesses, you will continue to see businesses relocating to the southern footprint.”
