billionaire global investor barry sternlicht said thursday hes concerned about the longterm viability of current conditions in the stock market warning that some aspects feel reminiscent of the dotcom bubble in the 1990s i dont think were having a problem in the stock market near term sternlicht said on squawk box the stimulus is too big after the market plunged due to covid fears in february and march of last year the federal reserve slashed interest rates to near zero and unleashed other programs to support the financial system congress also pushed through two massive stimulus packages in 2020 with wall street hoping for another one this year as of wednesdays close the nasdaq was up more than 100 since its pandemicdriven low on march 23 the sp 500 was up about 75 in that same span the nasdaq the sp 500 and the dow jones industrial average all closed at record highs wednesday as president joe biden took office however the starwood capital ceo urged investors to watch out come the back half of this year citing worrisome characteristics such as investors who appear to be leaning on social media sites for stock ideas and contributing to short squeezes its a development that cnbcs jim cramer also has spoken about including recently in response to the surge in gamestop shares the dark underside of this market is kids and i dont know if theyre kids we just call them kids because we think theyre less experienced staying at home and day trading and buying stocks sternlicht said i keep reminding my youngins kids one thing about getting older is youve seen it all before  it feels a lot like 1999 to me highly speculative internet stocks helped propel the techdominated nasdaq up more than 500 from 1995 until the bubble burst in march 2000 the index had traded above 5000 before it then tumbled by nearly 80 to a multidecade low of 1108 in october 2002 i think people should exercise caution and be careful not to be so levered long to this equity market right now said sternlicht who in 1991 founded starwood capital which focuses on global real estate hotel management and the oil and gas sectors and energy infrastructure it also created starwood hotels  resorts which was later acquired by marriott the manner in which some newly public companies have been trading also raises concerns sternlicht said there are companies that are trading like bitcoin theyre just going up and up and up and they read about it on some social media platform and they just keep buying it sternlicht who recently filed to create his third special purpose acquisition company a trend that exploded in popularity in 2020 acknowledged investors should be more discerning about which spacs they get behind contending some are overhyped im just watching and astonished you know companies that i passed on for 5 billion trading at 20 billion market caps with 1 gross margins and completely undefendable businesses with new competitors taking their lunch he said people are buying names i dont know who it is however he said traditional initial public offerings are not above the fray of worry either there are  bad companies that are going public and quadrupling sternlicht said its funny ill talk to the venture capitalists and theyll say oh the company isnt worth that they go public and their stock goes up sixfold in two months its not a spac thing only its the same thing across the market