Investing

RBC market analyst: Tech is an area of risk in the stock market

Key Points
  • The technology sector is an area of risk in the stock market despite it drawing strong interest on Wall Street, RBC investment strategist Lori Calvasina says.
  • "I do think you've got to see some other major sectors take over the leadership," Calvasina adds.
The bull market's limping but still moving forward, says strategist
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The bull market's limping but still moving forward, says strategist

The technology sector is an area of risk in the stock market despite it drawing strong interest on Wall Street, an RBC Capital Markets investment strategist told CNBC on Thursday.

"And I do think you've got to see some other major sectors take over the leadership," said Lori Calvasina, head of U.S. equity strategy at RBC. "I'm still pretty optimistic about financials, I think they can continue to do well."

"[Tech] has been very crowded by just about every investor camp that you can look at," she said in a "Fast Money Halftime Report" interview.

Stocks were lower Thursday, with the at one point down 1 percent, below its 200-day moving average, before regaining some ground. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite was lower intraday Thursday, down about 0.5 percent. The Nasdaq has fallen in seven of the past 10 trading days and is down more than 2 percent over the past three months.

Better-than-expected earnings failed to push stocks higher as investors were worried about trade and geopolitical events.

Calvasina, whose firm is underweight on tech, said she's reined in her enthusiasm a bit on the broader market, adding RBC has lowered its S&P target for the year from 3,000 to 2,890.

"We described it as the bull is limping, but he is still moving forward a little bit," said Calvasina, a former chief U.S. equity strategist at Credit Suisse.

She said it appears investors don't believe they've overshot their expectations for the year, however.

"They're not going to pay up for inflated earnings on tax boosts," Calvasina said. "What they want is confirmation that the real underlying fundamentals are improving. That they're still good. That they're getting better."

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