Just for a change this week we have seen small caps outperform the blue chips, with the former only being down just under 5% over the past week, while the FTSE 100 was down nearly 6%.
Clearly, the Iran situation is one that has been a negative across the board, as investors seek the safety of cash. This point has been underlined by the way that even gold was down nearly 2% this week, something which underlines the fear factor at the moment.
What is also interesting is that the VIX is at 29, near the peaks of the autumn, but still way off what was seen at the time of the tariffs tumble last April when it spiked at 50 plus. Indeed, the VIX reaching this number could be the cue to buy the market when others are fearful, as Warren Buffett would say. In the meantime we really are in the brace position, and are hoping the conflict in Iran ends as quickly as possible.
One aspect that feels a little churlish to mention is that even though the current selloff has been deliberately triggered, it has meant that the Zaks Traders Café rule of buying Bonfire Night (November 5) and selling Valentine’s Day (February 14) has worked well for another year. In fact, the market peak was February 27, and we had nearly two weeks extra of upside before the tumble of recent days.
This Week’s Winners
Given the lay of the land this week, winners were certainly not very much at the forefront of the market. The obvious beneficiaries of the current environment were the oilers.
We have already seen and covered the rise of Tullow Oil (TLW), which basically started to recover as long ago as January when the price of Crude Oil started to bounce. The more intriguing risers in the space, rising together, have been perennial dogs, United Oil & Gas (UOG) and Union Jack Oil (UJO). While both companies have decent jam tomorrow / jam soon stories attached to them, as they have for years, perhaps the imminent prospect of oil revisiting $100 a barrel means that investors may finally give these two companies a break. UOG has Jamaica in focus, while UJO can point to Keddington production success, as well as progress at West Newton.
In a similar space, Synergia (SYN) said that production from the Cambay field saw a marked improvement from two legacy wells (C-64 and C-74) that were worked over in November 2025. Combined production from the C-64 and C-74 wells averaged 78 BOPD during February. This is not exactly the Forties Field, but caused a decent 40% share price rise.
Away from the oilers, we have seen a decent, and perhaps better than expected share price recovery for SkinBioTherapeutics (SBTX) as the company replaced management, and quickly moved to assure the market that it is on the case after recent negative events.
Disclaimer & Declaration of Interest:
The information, investment views, and recommendations in this Zaks Traders Cafe interview are provided for general information purposes only. Nothing in this interview should be construed as a promotion or solicitation to buy or sell any financial product relating to any companies under discussion or referred to or to engage in or refrain from doing so or engage in any other transaction. Any opinions or comments are made to the best of the knowledge and belief of the commentator but no responsibility is accepted for actions based on such opinions or comments. The commentators may or may not hold investments in the companies under discussion.
