Jeffrey Gundlach says it's a ‘going nowhere’ market, warns of private credit strains

DoubleLine Capital CEO Jeffrey Gundlach said markets are stuck in a holding pattern with few assets delivering meaningful returns, as he warned that stresses emerging in private credit could deepen if investors rush for liquidity. “It’s kind of a going nowhere market right now, sort of trendless. Almost nothing is up. Nothing is really down dramatically. Nothing has really made much money over the past nine months,” Gundlach said on CNBC’s " Closing Bell ." Gundlach believes the environment bears some resemblance to the period leading up to the 2008 financial crisis, when asset prices appeared elevated and early signs of strain were dismissed as isolated. “A little bit like 2006, where everything is overvalued, cracks are starting to form. But everyone’s like, it’s all contained, it’s no problem, it’s just software. But it’s not just software ,” he said. “We all know that the private credit industry was deluged with redemption requests ; it far exceeded the 5%.” His comments come as investors increasingly scrutinize pockets of the private credit market , particularly funds exposed to riskier borrowers such as software companies. Redemption pressures have already surfaced in some vehicles, raising questions about liquidity management in an asset class that grew rapidly during years of low interest rates. “Anybody that has been around the block, at least as many times as I have, or even half as many times as I have, should know that the next window of liquidity from these investors, particularly the retail investors, they’re gonna ask for a lot more than they did in March,” he said.