The bull market is “in trouble,” strategist Alicia Levine told CNBC on Monday.
U.S. stocks continued to fall on Monday, with large tech stocks leading the way down. The action came after equities posted sharp weekly losses on Friday.
“There is probably another leg down from here,” said Levine, chief investment strategist at BNY Mellon. The firm has $1.8 trillion of assets under management.
“If it can hold the low levels of 2018 then you could move higher, but right now we just see a very messy and unsatisfying market,” she told “Power Lunch.”
The S&P 500 hit its 52-week low of 2,532.69 during the February sell-off.
Levine pointed out that large-cap tech names, which drove the market higher, became 25 percent of the S&P 500 in August. Now with those stocks dropping, the index needs the other 75 percent to carry it.
“It’s a math problem. It’s very hard to get that kind of performance to move the index up,” she said.
And she isn’t holding out hope that tech stocks will rebound, calling the sector “broken.”
She said the multiples and price philosophy has been predicated on exponential growth, which just isn’t going to be there going forward.
“It’s coming back down to Earth, and I don’t think we’re done yet,” Levine predicted.
Michael Arone, chief market strategist at State Street, doesn’t see the end of the bull market, yet.
“The fat lady is certainly not singing just yet to signal the end of this bull market,” he said on “Power Lunch.” However, “in the background, you can hear her warming up.”
Right now, investors are pricing in the worst-case scenarios for U.S.-China trade relations, fiscal stimulus wearing off, Federal Reserve rate hikes and the slowing corporate profits, explained Arone, whose firm has $2.7 trillion of assets under management.
Therefore, if there is any type of relief in those areas, the market could rebound heading into next year, he added.
As for where to look when investing, BNY Mellon’s Levine said she likes the services aspect of health care. She said hospitals, HMOs and Medicaid HMOs look attractive, in part because the midterm election results, which will have Democrats taking control of the House of Representatives in January, mean Obamacare will not be repealed. Plus in some states Democrats will take over as governor from outgoing Republicans, which could mean an expansion in Medicaid, she said.
She said she doesn’t like biotech or pharmaceuticals because of all the “noise” over pricing.