https://www.marketwa...sent-2019-01-29
DoubleLine Capital founder Jeffrey Gundlach says there is further reason to be pessimistic about the outlook for the economy.
Wall Street’s bond king, a frequent market prognosticator, said in a Tuesday afternoon tweet that a reading of consumers’ future expectations relative to their current view on the market is the “most recessionary signal” and reflects one of the “worst readings ever.”
Gundlach didn’t specify the report he was referring to but his comments follow a reading of the Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index, which fell to an 18-month low amid the partial government shutdown that ended Friday after 35 days.
The consumer confidence index fell to 120.2 in January from a reading of 126.6 a month earlier, the privately run Conference Board said Tuesday. More ominously, an index that measures expectations six months ahead tumbled to 87.3 from 97.7, marking the lowest reading since before President Donald Trump won the presidential election in November 2016.
To be sure, the drop came as a government shutdown stretched well past its previous record and after the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.21% the S&P 500 index SPX, -0.15% and the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, -0.81% staged a record-setting pre-Christmas session rout.