Brian Levitt, Invesco Global Market Strategist, joins Yahoo Finance's Alexis Christoforous to discuss market concerns including Afghanistan, the Delta variant, and the Federal Reserve.

Video Transcript

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: Want to continue our markets conversation and bring in Brian Levitt now. He's market strategist at Invesco Global. Brian, always good to see you. Look, I want to start with what's happening on the geopolitical stage right now, the collapse of the Afghan government, and takeover of the country by the Taliban. To what extent are market watchers looking at this, and to what extent is this a market moving event, do you think?

BRIAN LEVITT: You know, maybe in the short term. But I wouldn't expect it to be a long term market-moving event. I mean, clearly there's concerns on it from a geopolitical perspective and from a humanitarian perspective for the people in Afghanistan, but it tends to not be these regional type of events that lead to meaningful changes in the economic cycle or meaningful changes in the direction of the economy. So you know, investors obviously should be watching it with some concern, but I would be hard pressed to change my views on the business cycle or on markets because of what's transpiring.

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: So what do you think is the number one concern for this market right now? Is it the rising Delta variant cases? Is it the Federal Reserve, which is starting to indicate that they're going to start taking their foot off the gas pedal? To your mind, what's the biggest catalyst for this market, the biggest concern at the moment?

BRIAN LEVITT: Yeah, I wouldn't say it's the Federal Reserve. I mean, the Federal Reserve has been quite transparent. And even if they do start to take their foot off the accelerator, the market's been well prepared for it, and it's going to be a gradual process. Clearly to me it's the it's the Delta variant. And you know, the good news is, it doesn't seem like we're heading back to where we were in March 2020. We have high percentages of American adults vaccinated, which is, you know, a good sign, and should prevent us from having to shut down large segments of the economy. But nonetheless, it's going to slow this economy down.

Now, that doesn't necessarily have to be ominous. You know, a slowdown is not necessarily the worst thing. It could in fact, ultimately extend this cycle as it prevents excesses from being built, prevents the Federal Reserve from tightening meaningfully, so yeah. But it's a risk, and ultimately I think we'll get through it just like we did a year ago. Medicine, science, human ingenuity will move us through it, but it's certainly going to lead to a slowdown in economic activity.