Gundlach bought some stocks about 2 weeks ago, a spokesman confirmed
BloombergBond King Jeff Gundlach, co-founder and chief executive officer of DoubleLine Capital, has turned bullish on stocks.
Gundlach and other DoubleLine money managers became more sanguine about equities at a sector allocation meeting on Feb. 10, and then on Feb. 12 increased their stock position, according to a DoubleLine spokesman.
“I thought it was a good buy point two weeks ago Wednesday and so we bought some,” Gundlach told Reuters on Friday.
Better known for his prowess in the bond world, Gundlach and his firm’s recent stock purchases follow one of the most brutal stretches of trading on Wall Street for stocks.
The S&P 500 index SPX, -0.19% is down 4.7% year to date, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average has lost 4.5% so far this year. But since the period in which Gundlach is said to have made his purchases, the Dow has gained 5.5% and the S&P 500 has rallied 5.6%. DoubleLine wouldn’t provide details about its stock investments.
Gundlach’s buys are somewhat curious given his decidedly bearish stance on the market not more than a few weeks ago. Back on Feb. 8, he told Reuters that equities were in a bear market and referred to the atmosphere as “not a traders market.”
Read: Gundlach warns investors not ‘to be a hero’ in this wild market
Of course, Gundlach, who oversees some $84 billion in assets, may have determined that the reeling market might present a screaming opportunity to dig his heels into equities, especially given the meager returns bonds are offering here and abroad.
His bearish outlook also saw him making some gold calls. Earlier this month, Gundlach predicted that gold prices are likely to reach $1,400 an ounce this year as investors lose faith in central banks. Gold prices GCJ6, -1.29% aren’t at his forecast level but they have risen 15.4% in 2016, with April gold on Comex settling at $1,222.40 an ounce on Friday.
He’s also predicting that crude-oil CLJ6, -0.70% will jump to $40 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate crude—the U.S. benchmark—finished at $33.07 a barrel Friday, and Brent crude LCOJ6, -0.45% the international benchmark, settled at $35.44 a barrel.