‘Bond King’ Jeffrey Gundlach rings the alarm on US debt

• “Bond King” Jeffrey Gundlach warned the US debt has ballooned and continues to swell.

• The billionaire investor noted the Fed’s interest-rate hikes have driven up the costs of the debt.

• Gundlach warned the problem could get worse in the coming weeks as debts come due.

Billionaire investor Jeffrey Gundlach warned that US debt has ballooned and continues to swell to worrying levels — and the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate hikes are making it more expensive to service.

The national debt has surpassed $32 trillion and “is already sprinting toward $33 trillion,” the DoubleLine Capital CEO noted in a Friday tweet.

“Interest expense on it is of course rising, with the 500 bp Fed hikes a major accelerant,” added Gundlach, who is often called “Bond King” for his success in fixed-income investing.

The US central bank has raised interest rates from nearly zero to upwards of 5% since last spring in a bid to tame soaring inflation, marking one of the most aggressive rate-hiking cycles in history. The Fed took a breather in June and decided to pause rates after 10 consecutive hikes over the previous 15 months.

Gundlach also suggested the debt situation could worsen in the coming weeks.

“A sizable short term debt stock issued near zero interest a few years back is coming due,” he tweeted. “Uh oh.”

The investor was likely referring to the US government having to soon repay some of the debt it incurred during the pandemic to fund its emergency programs.

The US bond market has been flashing a recession warning for months, with the 2-year yield surpassing the 10-year yield in October. The inversion of the yield on the short and long-term notes has historically predicted an economic downturn, and Gundlach has been warning about an imminent recession. 

Earlier this month, he dialed up those warnings about the state of the US economy and said key economic indicators looked “absolutely full-on recessionary.”

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