Oaktree’s Marks Praises Fed, Even as Distressed Debt Shrinks

  • Marks says Fed and fiscal spending helped avert a depression
  • Central bank-fueled rally has taken many bonds out of distress
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Oaktree Capital Group Co-Founder Howard Marks says the Federal Reserve’s intervention at the peak of the pandemic was necessary to keep companies afloat and avoid a potential economic shutdown, even if that’s giving his firm fewer distressed-debt targets.

“If they had not done the things they did, we would be talking about a much more serious economic event, we may even be using the word depression,” or perhaps global recession, Marks said during an interview with Bloomberg TV Thursday.