Jeffrey Gundlach says the Fed is ‘obviously behind the curve,’ will raise rates more than expected

DoubleLine Capital CEO Jeffrey Gundlach said Friday the Federal Reserve is failing in its battle against a spike of inflation, and the central bank is slated for accelerating rate hikes this year.

“The Fed is obviously behind the curve … It’s going to have to raise rates more than the market still thinks,” Gundlach said Friday on CNBC’s “Halftime Report.” “My suspicion is they are going to keep raising rates until something breaks, which always happens.”

His comments came as inflation surged to a fresh four-decade high with the consumer price index rising 7.5% year over year. The red-hot price pressures are running at a level well above the Fed’s 2% goal. 

“I do expect [inflation] to come down but I think it’s going to be disappointing the pace and the degree to which it’s going to come down,” Gundlach said.

The so-called bond king forecast five interest rate hikes this year, adding there’s a one-in-three chance that the Fed will increase rates by a larger-than-usual 50 basis points in March.

On Thursday following the release of inflation data, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said he was open to a 50-basis point hike in March and wanted to see a full percentage point of hikes, or 100 basis points, by July.

Futures market also repriced rate-hike odds as CME data pointed to a 66% chance of a 50-basis-point increase at the March meeting.

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