DoubleLine Capital CEO Jeff Gundlach expects the U.S. Federal Reserve to cut benchmark rates in the first half of 2024 after an aggressive rate hike cycle over the past year and a half to curb sticky inflation.

"The Fed wants the economy to slow quickly and rates to go down," Gundlach told CNBC in an interview on Tuesday, adding that the U.S. economy has enough weakness for the Federal Reserve to consider being done with the rate hikes.

Gundlach said the U.S. core personal consumption expenditures (PCE) needs to fall below 4% for the Fed to push brakes on the rate-hiking cycle.

The money manager also added that he never wanted the "Bond King" title, responding to billionaire investor Bill Gross' remark during a live episode on a Bloomberg podcast, that "to be a bond king or queen, you need a kingdom."

(Reporting by Pritam Biswas in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)