DoubleLine Capital’s Jeffrey Gundlach downplayed President Donald Trump‘s most-recent attack on the Federal Reserve, noting it is not at all out of character.
“I think it’s kind of a myth that the Fed is really all that independent,” Gundlach told CNBC’s “Halftime Report” on Thursday. “They say they’re independent, but they’re constantly, I think, having discussions about about what’s going on.”
Gundlach’s comments came after Trump said the U.S. central bank caused the latest downturn in the market. On Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged more than 800 points while the S&P 500 dropped more than 3 percent on Wednesday amid a rout in tech shares and worries over higher rates sent. Those declines marked their worst days since February.
“It’s a correction that I think is caused by the Fed and interest rates,” Trump said earlier on Thursday. “The dollar is very strong, very powerful – and it causes difficulty doing business.”
This is the latest attack on the Fed by Trump. On Wednesday, he said the Fed was going “crazy” by tightening monetary policy so much. The Fed has raised rated three times this year and is expected to hike once more before year-end.
Trump’s repeated comments on the Fed are a deviation from his predecessors who largely refrained from commenting directly on monetary policy. These comments also raise concern over the central bank’s independence regarding policy.
However, Gundlach thinks this is just Trump being Trump.
“President Trump is just a different kind of guy,” Gundlach said. “He calls out everybody. It would be completely out of character for him not to point fingers and leave blame at other people’s feet. He does that all the time.”
