Last week looked like a liquidation into end of month: Fundstrat managing partner

CNBC's "Halftime Report" team discusses markets with Shannon Saccocia of Boston Private Wealth, Tom Lee of Fundstrat and Jonathan Krinsky of Baycrest Partners.

All 30 Dow members ended the week down more than 10% from their respective 52-week highs. Tech giant Apple even dipped into a bear market, briefly trading down more than 20% from its intraday record set on January.

“What we’ve seen the last couple of days is pure liquidation,” said Keith Lerner, chief market strategist at Truist/SunTrust Advisory. “Investors are saying ‘get me out at any cost.’”

“The most important dynamic in the market is uncertainty,” Lerner added. “People are selling first and asking questions later.”

Traders and investors sought protection from the stock market’s decline by loading up on U.S. Treasurys and hedging through options.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield broke below 1.15% for the first time ever on Friday. The rate started the week hovering around 1.4%. Meanwhile, Wall Street’s so-called fear gauge — the Cboe Volatility Index (VIX) — surged to 49.15, its highest intraday level since February 2018.

For access to live and exclusive video from CNBC subscribe to CNBC PRO: https://www.cnbc.com/pro/?__source=youtube

» Subscribe to CNBC TV: https://cnb.cx/SubscribeCNBCtelevision
» Subscribe to CNBC: https://cnb.cx/SubscribeCNBC
» Subscribe to CNBC Classic: https://cnb.cx/SubscribeCNBCclassic

Turn to CNBC TV for the latest stock market news and analysis. From market futures to live price updates CNBC is the leader in business news worldwide.

Connect with CNBC News Online
Get the latest news: http://www.cnbc.com/
Follow CNBC on LinkedIn: https://cnb.cx/LinkedInCNBC
Follow CNBC News on Facebook: https://cnb.cx/LikeCNBC
Follow CNBC News on Twitter: https://cnb.cx/FollowCNBC
Follow CNBC News on Instagram: https://cnb.cx/InstagramCNBC

#CNBC
#CNBC TV