Futures Now

S&P will drop—but not why you think: BofAML’s Curry

MacNeil Curry: A selloff doesn't require a catalyst
VIDEO1:2001:20
MacNeil Curry: A selloff doesn't require a catalyst

After falling more than 4 percent from recent highs, the has gained back about half of what it lost. But MacNeil Curry, head of global technical strategy at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, says the correction isn't over yet—and he says it won't take a spate of bad news to push stocks lower.

Actually, on Thursday's "Futures Now," he took issue with the whole idea that markets make big moves in response specific datapoints or events.

"I'm not a big believer in catalysts. I think if you go back, if you look historically, most market moves don't transpire off of catalysts," Curry said. "The information as to why a market is trending in the direction it is, is usually not known at the time the trend is beginning. So I don't think we necessarily need a catalyst. I mean, there could be a thousand reasons why an investors says, 'You know what? I want to turn more bearish here.' [And] what drives a market is sentiment."


Traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
Getty Images

When he looks at sentiment right now, Curry says it has turned quite bearish.

"We think sentiment has shifted into a more negative environment since rolling over about a month or two months ago," he said.

Rather than catalysts, "I look at the price, and it seems to me that we're in a corrective environment, and that correction isn't done yet."

Curry expects that the S&P will head down to its 200-day moving average, which falls at about 1,860.

"We're looking for a top right about now, or over the course of the next week or two," he said.

—By CNBC's Alex Rosenberg

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