By John Gittelsohn
(Bloomberg) --DoubleLine Capital’s Jeffrey Gundlach said the establishment in Washington is trying to undermine President Donald Trump by running out the clock on his administration.
“They’re really just trying to wait Trump out, trying to obstruct his agenda as much as possible,” Gundlach, one of the few money managers to predict Trump’s election, said during a webcast Tuesday. “Small change is what they’re looking for.”
Gundlach, manager of the $53.9 billion DoubleLine Total Return Bond Fund, spoke during televised Senate testimony by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, which the money manager called “a sideshow or entertainment.” He called the U.S. political conflict “rope-a-dope,” a strategy used by boxer Muhammad Ali to wear out opponents.
Among Gundlach’s other observations:
- There’s a low probability of a recession.
- The days of low volatility markets are probably numbered.
- Expect higher bond yields and lower stock prices this summer.
- Yields on 10-year Treasuries are likely to end 2017 roughly in the 2.7 percent to 2.8 percent range, from about 2.2 percent currently.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 Index closed at record highs Tuesday prior to Gundlach’s talk. Futures trading implies a 98 percent probability the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates by 0.25 percent when it meets Wednesday.
“If you’re a trader or a speculator, I think you should be raising cash today, literally today,” Gundlach said. “If you’re an investor, I think you can sit through a seasonally weak period.”
The Total Return fund was up 2.7 percent this year through June 12, beating 84 percent of its peers, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
To contact the reporter on this story: John Gittelsohn in Los Angeles at [email protected] To contact the editors responsible for this story: Margaret Collins at [email protected] Josh Friedman
