Daily Stock Market Report (Wed 4th March 2026) - Market Backdrop, SCE, GMS, VTY, SRT, CRN

Morning!

Market Backdrop

After a pretty tumultuous couple of days in response to the events in the Middle East, I am expecting some calmer waters today with the FTSE opening up 0.3% at around 10480. The moves in equity markets have been dominated by risk-off sentiment rather than necessarily companies with Middle Eastern exposure. For example, the spot oil price has responded understandably positively to the Straits of Hormuz being closed, as 20-30% of global oil supply typically passes through there. In response, companies heavily reliant on energy as a core input have sold off, but many oil producers haven’t really responded positively. That oil producers don't immediately soar may be logical; the market may be pricing a rapid resolution to the current war and a return to normal over a relatively short time. However, that makes the sell-off in oil consumers illogical. We can’t have both. Which leads me to conclude we have simply seen investors run for the hills.

Nowhere has this risk-off attitude been more obvious than in some of the smaller companies. Even companies with high StockRanks and no exposure to the ME or oil have had a pretty brutal sell-off. This leads me to conclude that stop-losses...