Name: IBM Vice Chairman says hes bullish on the economy
Uploaded: 2026-01-13T16:59:47.678Z
Duration: 3 min 53 s
Description: Gary Cohn, vice chairman of IBM and former director of the National Economic Council, stated that recent economic data, including a softer-than-expected CPI report, indicates positive momentum for the economy.

Gary Cohn, vice chairman of IBM and former director of the National Economic Council, stated that recent economic data, including a softer-than-expected CPI report, indicates positive momentum for the economy.

Washington

Gary Cohn, vice chairman of IBM and former director of the National Economic Council, stated that recent economic data, including a softer-than-expected CPI report, indicates positive momentum for the economy. He highlighted factors such as a lower dollar, increased consumer purchasing power, AI investment, and lower oil prices as contributing to his bullish stance on economic growth.

Cohn expressed moderate optimism about the stock market, noting elevated valuations and geopolitical risks from regions like the Middle East and Ukraine. He also emphasized the importance of an independent Federal Reserve, citing recent Senate support and clarifying the Fed's self-funded status. Cohn hopes that recent investigations into the Fed will be resolved quickly and without political interference.

IBM Vice Chairman says he's 'bullish' on the economy

Here with us at post 9 the former director of the National Economic Council during President Trump's first term Gary Cohn Gary's also the former president of Goldman Sachs, and he is the current vice chair of IBM love that long intro Gary Welcome back. Thanks for having me. So Weren't you I mean didn't you think this was good news? Yeah, look, I thought the CPI print today was good It came in a little bit softer than expected heading the right direction You know, we're all trying to get back to that unique 2% target rate for inflation Not sure we can get there but losing a tenth off of the inflation rate is is one of the steps in a positive direction It's also, you know combine that with all the other positive things going on in the economy right now I think it puts a lot of tailwind into the economy and into the market So your outlook is pretty good for 26. I'm you know, it's pretty bullish. I'm pretty bullish You know, it's on the market bullish on the economy both. Well, I'm bullish on the economy for sure You know the market it probably has a little more geopolitical risk in it than I would like So it takes away from my full comfort But if you think about a lower dollar going on right now, you think about consumer purchasing power? You think about what's being spent in the in in the AI world you think about lower lower oil prices Although there's a there's a fine line there between lower oil prices and to lower 61 So so, you know, we've got a lot of positive momentum things going on in the economy right now Will it translate into companies earnings? It will it will you know, then again you bring in this issue of multiples Well multiples expand multiples are pretty high So very bullish on the economy Moderately bullish on the market because the market has just done a lot of the work already It's done a lot of the work and it's got you know It has much more geopolitical risk than you know, I would like what do you mean? What just connect the dots on the geopolitical risk to the market because it's not always evident look it we know Markets don't like volatility. We know markets don't like bad news. We know markets don't like news. They're not expecting so news They're not expect is interpreted as bad news So you could go back to what's going on around the world you go back to what's going on in Iran? What's going on in the Middle East what's going on in Venezuela? What's going on in Ukraine all of these things are forces that are out there that right now the market is saying, okay We're okay with them today But we might not be okay with them you take the Paul news on Sunday night The Paul news was a disruption to the market the market quickly realized that you know This is probably more noise than in reality And in fact, I think that news has turned into something more positive than negative why what's positive about it? Well, I think we have now seen Public Disclosure from people how important a independent Fed is not just from the former chair people of the Fed and You know in all the people they were appointed by but you've seen it now in the Senate You've seen more and more senators come out whether it was Tillis whether it was McCormick you go through They're defending Powell. They're defending the importance of an independent Fed to me. That's a good outcome That's a really good statement that the Senate is willing to stand up and support the Fed because remember the Fed is an independent Agency, I think people forget that the Fed is not funded by taxpayers directly It's not it doesn't go through the appropriations process. The Fed is self-funded Now you could you could argue the consumers are paying that through the self-funding, but they're self-funded and the oversight is the Senate So the Oversight Committee the Senate Banking Committee has now told you look we believe in a very independent What do you think the administration does with this investigation? You think it goes away? Look, I would hope that the administration had nothing to do with it and suggest this department. We would hope that we would hope that the According to the tweet we saw last night or this morning We would hope that the Fed would turn over the documents they want and it would clear the path and this would just have been a little short-term misunderstanding

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