Should bond buying by the Federal Reserve be reduced, it makes sense that its support of the stock market would be taken away, Gundlach said Tuesday on a conference call with investors. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 1.1 percent to 1,838.88 at 4 p.m. in New York, posting its biggest gain of the year.

The Fed will probably end its monthly asset purchases by the end of this year while keeping short-term interest rates low into 2016, said Gundlach, whose Los Angeles-based firm had about $52 billion in assets as of Sept. 30. Long-term bonds won’t do “that badly” on a yield basis even as they fall out of favor, he said.

Investors should keep in mind that betting against U.S. Treasuries could backfire if there’s any economic weakness, and be cautious with funds that have been buying junk bonds and shorting government debt, according to Gundlach. He said Treasuries look cheap relative to municipal bonds and high-yield securities, or those rated below Baa3 by Moody’s Investors Service and less than BBB- by S&P. For those who can stomach the volatility, Puerto Rico and J.C. Penney Co. bonds may be worthwhile, Gundlach said.

Gundlach’s $31 billion DoubleLine Total Return Bond Fund lost $6 billion to redemptions last year, according to estimates by Morningstar Inc. It returning 0.02 percent, ahead of 80 percent of peers, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. All of the money put into U.S. bond mutual funds in 2012 is likely to be pulled by the end of this year after withdrawals started in 2013, said Gundlach.