The S&P 500 index fell 2 percent Thursday, and suffered its worst overall week in two years — and that made a believer out of CNBC contributor Ron Insana.
He's now short stocks.
"Recent market action has been unnerving,"
Insana wrote on CNBC.com. "I'm out of stocks for the time being, and I've taken short positions, betting that the market will fall. I think there's a 5 to 10 percent correction — or something slightly worse — coming."
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Insana says the simultaneous drop of stocks, bonds, gold, oil and other commodities has unnerved him. That's "something we have not seen in a few years," he said.
"I am especially concerned that, unlike in previous declines, bonds are not seeing a flight-to-quality rally, something that would hold down interest rates and cushion any decline in equities."
The S&P 500 hasn't experienced a 10 percent correction since 2011, Insana notes. "While I believe this remains a secular bull market, taking chips off the table for a time may be prudent portfolio management."
Insana wasn't the only one to turn bearish for the short term. "The Fed is stepping out of the way, and the market’s valuation is high enough that people are quick to take profit,"
Wayne Wilbanks, chief investment officer at Wilbanks, Smith & Thomas Asset Management, told Bloomberg.
"You are going to get more days like today, where investors are more trigger happy, quicker to liquidate. Everybody knows a correction is coming and it will come."
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