As Americans’ debt grows, recession fears are refueled and the Fed grapples with the pressure to cut rates, “Bond King” Jeffrey Gundlach shares his grim take on the economy’s obstacles.
“I think the data that’s come out is quite concerning over the past week,” the DoubleLine Capital CEO and founder said about the country’s economy on “Mornings with Maria.”
“A month ago, if you subdivide the economy into six or seven major sectors, all of them were experiencing positive growth. All of a sudden, in those same numbers this year, more are negative than positive, and the positive ones are less positive,” Gundlach explained.
HIGH INFLATION IS CHANGING THE WAY AMERICANS RETIRE
The Labor Department said that the consumer price index (CPI), a broad measure of how much everyday goods like gasoline, groceries and rent cost, rose 0.3% in April from the previous month. Economists expected to see a 0.4% monthly increase. Prices climbed 3.4% from the same time last year, down from the 3.5% reading in March.
Unfortunately, Americans are still feeling the impact of high prices and offsetting the sting with credit cards.
Gundlach stressed that credit card bills are starting to “add up.”
AMERICANS ARE CARRYING A RECORD AMOUNT OF HOUSEHOLD DEBT
“I think that the lifestyle adjustment that was allowed by all of that money printing got people to a lifestyle that they decided that they weren’t getting checks for the government, but they were willing to put it on a credit card,” he continued.
New data published Thursday by TransUnion shows the average debt per borrower hit $6,218 at the end of the first quarter, an 8.5% increase from one year ago. Consumers owe a collective $1.02 trillion in credit card debt.
Gundlach predicts that a recession is inevitable. However, when exactly it will hit the U.S. is “hard to say,” he told host Maria Bartiromo.
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FOX Business’ Megan Henney contributed to this report.
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