Major banks forecasting a recession in earnings calls **Blackrock** * The challenges society has experienced not just in the past year but since the pandemic has eroded hope and reinforced pessimism in many parts of the world. We've seen a decline in birth rates and an increase in aging populations, a rise in nationalism and populism, and **I fear that we are entering a period of economic malaise.** **JPMorgan** * The net reserve build of $1.4 billion was driven by updates to **the firm's macroeconomic outlook which now reflects a mild recession** in the central case as well as loan growth in Card services, partially offset by a reduction in pandemic-related uncertainty. **Bank of America** * **Our baseline scenario contemplates a mild recession** … unemployment to peak at 5.5% early this year and remain at 5% or above through 2024. A mild recession in the base case and a **worse recession in the adverse case that we weight at 40%**. **Citigroup** * Therefore we continue to see the US entering into **a mild recession in the second half of the year**. **Wells Fargo** * While we are not predicting a severe downturn, we must be prepared for one. **We feel prepared for a downside scenario if we see broader deterioration than we currently see or predict.**