Every three months, the analysts at JP Morgan release something that seems, at first glance, like a heavy PDF. Charts everywhere. Arrows, historical averages, shaded bars. It looks like a slide deck built for economists. And yet the JP Morgan Guide to the Markets has become one of the most widely used tools in finance, not just on Wall Street but among independent advisors, regional banks, and even corporate decision-makers.
It’s part textbook, part weather report. And in 2025, with rates still elevated, inflation cooling but not entirely tamed, and equity valuations that seem either reassuring or terrifying depending on your lens, the guide has become more like a compass. It doesn’t tell you where to go, but it makes sure you’re not lost.
What the JP Morgan Guide to the Markets Actually Is
Strip away the mystique, and the JP Morgan Guide to the Markets is just a set of curated charts. They cover equities, fixed income, commodities, housing, demographics, and policy. Most slides are deceptively simple—just a line chart or two with clear labeling.
“It’s not that JP Morgan has secret data,” says a Boston-based wealth manager I spoke with. “It’s the presentation. The guide turns messy information into a story you can walk a client through without getting lost in jargon.”
That’s the trick. The guide doesn’t just show numbers—it shows context. Inflation across decades. Yield curves from before most clients were born. Housing affordability across multiple cycles. That perspective is rare in an age of scattershot headlines.
Why It’s So Widely Used
In theory, anyone could build these charts. In practice, most don’t. The JP Morgan Guide to the Markets has become a kind of neutral reference point. If you’re an advisor trying to explain why staying invested through downturns often makes sense, you pull out the long-term equity returns chart. If you’re a pension manager debating bond allocations, you show the fixed-income historical yield spread slide.
“It’s the one deck everyone brings to client meetings,” says a New York fund manager. “We argue about the interpretations, sure. But we’re looking at the same slides. It’s like arguing over a weather map—we might disagree about whether to bring an umbrella, but the radar is the same.”
The 2025 Context
This year, the JP Morgan Guide to the Markets has taken on sharper relevance because the environment feels both familiar and strange. Interest rates are high by post-2008 standards, but not by 1980s standards. Inflation has cooled but remains uneven, sticky in services, volatile in food and energy.
The guide shows that clearly. On one slide, core CPI hovers around 3%, while services inflation lingers above 4%. Another chart shows equity valuations: the S&P 500 trading above its long-term average P/E, yet certain sectors—like energy and healthcare—sit closer to fair value.
One advisor described it like this: “Clients look at tech stocks and think bubble. They look at real estate and think crisis. The guide reminds us it’s not black and white—valuations are stretched in some spots, fine in others. Without those charts, people default to fear or hype.”
How Professionals Use It Day to Day
Picture this: a client sits down, worried about a recession. Instead of giving vague reassurance, the advisor flips open the JP Morgan Guide to the Markets to the GDP growth and equity drawdown chart. They show how markets often recover faster than the economy. The client sees data, not spin.
A regional bank’s investment committee might use it differently. They’ll map their credit exposure against the guide’s corporate debt maturity chart. If they see refinancing walls stacked in 2026–27, they’ll tighten risk.
Even corporate treasurers glance at it. A CFO preparing for bond issuance wants to know how rates compare to history. One chart saves hours of digging.
Criticisms and Blind Spots
Of course, not everyone is a fan. Some point out that the JP Morgan Guide to the Markets reflects JP Morgan’s worldview. The bank chooses which charts to emphasize. “Every chart book has a bias,” one hedge fund analyst told me. “You highlight the data that supports your narrative. The guide is no different.”
Another limitation is speed. The guide updates quarterly, but markets move daily. By the time you’re flipping through, last month’s Treasury selloff might already have reversed. For short-term traders, it’s too slow. For long-term allocators, though, the quarterly cadence is just right.
Analyst Voices: How They Frame It
“I tell clients the guide is like a map of the economy. It won’t tell you if there’s a storm tomorrow, but it shows you where the mountains and valleys are. Without it, you’re driving blind.” — Independent advisor, Chicago
“The slide I use most is the one on historical inflation. People think today’s numbers are unprecedented. The chart shows we’ve seen worse. It calms people down.” — Fund manager, London
“It’s not a prediction tool. It’s a conversation starter. If you want to talk bonds, there’s a chart for that. If you want to talk demographics, there’s a chart for that. The value is in focusing the conversation.” — Pension strategist, Toronto
Why It Still Matters
Plenty of firms publish outlooks—Goldman, BlackRock, Morgan Stanley. They all have glossy decks. But the JP Morgan Guide to the Markets stands out for two reasons: it’s visually clean, and it’s consistent. You don’t have to squint through clutter. And because it’s published quarter after quarter, year after year, you can compare across time.
One advisor put it bluntly: “If you’ve been using the guide since 2015, you’ve basically watched the market story unfold in slow motion. That’s powerful.”
It has become a common language. When someone says, “look at slide 34,” half the room already knows it’s the valuation chart. That shorthand saves time.
What This Means for Investors
For professionals, the JP Morgan Guide to the Markets is like oxygen—it’s always there. For ordinary investors, the takeaway is simpler: the guide shows that context matters more than noise. Yes, rates are high today. But the chart shows rates were higher for decades in the past, and economies still grew. Yes, equities look expensive. But relative to earnings growth, the story is nuanced.
It doesn’t mean you should ignore risks. It means you should ground your view in facts before reacting.
The Final Word
In 2025, the JP Morgan Guide to the Markets isn’t magic. It’s not a crystal ball. But it remains one of the most widely trusted references in finance because it makes complexity manageable. It gives advisors something to show clients, managers something to argue over, and executives something to check before making big calls.
And maybe that’s its real power. In a world of endless noise, it gives everyone—from the solo advisor in a small town to the billion-dollar hedge fund—a common set of charts. Not predictions, but perspective.
Or as one portfolio manager summed it up:
“We don’t use the guide to find the future. We use it to remind ourselves that markets, no matter how crazy they look today, fit into a bigger story. And that’s worth more than any single forecast.”
