Citigroup's (C) Levkovich Discusses Biggest Market Concerns on CNBC
NEW YORK (TheStreet) --Citigroup
(C) - Get Reportchief strategist Tobias Levkovichjoined CNBC's "Power Lunch" to discuss the company's four biggest fears for the market moving forward.
The four biggest fears highlighted were: defensive trading, trading too high too quickly, the U.S. election, and global economic concerns.
"Investors haven't been actually chasing the market, which is a bit inconsistent with the market going up. Its more about stock buybacks, more about mergers and acquisitions, hedge funds, leveraging, things like that," Levkovich explained.
That being said, the trend of chasing stocks deemed "safe" or "defensive" has been something he has kept his eye on.
"That's what I worry about. The terms "safety" and "defensive" work but only if you don't pay too much for it, then they start becoming a little less safe, we're concerned that investors may have taken this theme a bit too far. In some instances, I'd be very worried," Levkovich cautioned.
In terms of the third concern, an upcoming U.S. Presidential election, Levkovich zeroed in on possible policies which may impact the market, dependent on the selection.
"I think people think there will be this great pause in the market, and everybody will stop, but I see that as but as an overstatement," Levkovich said of a possible Donald Trump selection.
"I think other areas will be more interesting, he's talked about shredding Dodd-Frank, he's talked about taking away regulations, and I think both candidates will be challenged for health care," he added.
Finally, when CNBCs anchor Brian Sullivan asked Levkovich to completed the phrase "The biggest threat to the S&P 500 is?" Levkovich gave a surprising response.
"The biggest risk I see is the NFIB (National Federation of Independent Business) hiring survey. I look at the survey of hiring intentions and it has usually been a very good lead indicator for unemployment with a one-year lap. It does seem to suggest that unemployment could be rising at this point and time next year. That is a concern," Levkovich concluded.