DoubleLine Capital CEO Gundlach says Fed’s 25 bps rate cut is ‘the right move’

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(Reuters) – DoubleLine Capital CEO Jeffrey Gundlach said in an interview with CNBC on Wednesday that the Federal Reserve’s 25-basis-point rate cut was “the right move,” but warned that any aggressive easing could be inflationary.

The Federal Reserve cut interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point earlier on Wednesday and indicated it will steadily lower borrowing costs for the rest of the year, as policymakers responded to signs of weakness in the job market.

However, Stephen Miran, who was sworn in as a Fed governor on Tuesday, dissented in favor of a half-percentage-point reduction in borrowing costs and appears to have penciled in the steepest rate cuts in projections.

“I think there’s a risk there of over-easing,” said Gundlach, a money manager often dubbed “the bond king,” pointing to recent downward revisions to job creation figures and confusion in the labor market. He expects the Fed to cut rates again at the October meeting.

Gundlach also warned that the U.S. may be heading into an environment of effectively negative real interest rates.

(Reporting by Harshita Meenaktshi in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Barona)