In this article, we look at IAG, Rolls-Royce, and Ibstock as three shares that could warrant being added to a watchlist following recent market volatility stemming from the war in the Middle East.

IAG

IAG is an obvious choice. The airline was hit by concerns about grounded flights and rising oil prices, and followed the well-trodden path of airline shares sinking as geopolitical tensions turn into full-blown wars.

As fears about a prolonged war that could cause an oil shock subside, investors may shift their focus back to IAG’s record 2025 performance, which saw revenue grow 3.5% to €33,213 million and operating profit increase to more than €5 billion.

Notwithstanding the blip caused by the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, IAG is enjoying a period of growing travel demand and is simultaneously securing more revenue per passenger.

The company recently announced an additional €1.5 billion return to shareholders, as free cash flow remained above €3 billion in 2025.

IAG shares trade at just 5.9x historical price-to-earnings, which may prove to be ludicrously low.

Rolls-Royce 

The dip in Rolls-Royce shares could be a rare opportunity to pick that shares on weakness amid a multi-year bull run that has seen shares rally more than 1,000% from 2022 lows.

There was a period last year when Rolls-Royce started to look a little rich on a valuation basis. Shares powered on regardless.

Full-year results for 2025, released at the end of February, went a long way toward justifying this rally, but profits for the period still left the company trading at above-average multiples.

The story here, however, is one of future growth, and it’s refreshing to see the UK market willing to price in a large company’s growth more than one year ahead.

Rolls-Royce has provided mid-term targets of £4.9bn-£5.2bn, which appear well within reach for a company consistently delivering on its promises.

The aerospace division continues to be the driving force, but the power business is certainly becoming an interesting contributor to the group.

Ibstock

Ibstock is a selection for those optimistic about the UK economy. As hard as this may have been with the Labour government manufacturing the decline of the UK economy prior to the conflict, being optimistic about the economy has become a whole lot harder with the threat of interest rate hikes in the coming months.

Ibstock shares sank like a stone last week as rising oil prices rocked the UK property sector amid growing fears of higher mortgage rates and slower demand.

As the UK’s leading brick-maker, Ibstock shares lost about 25% of their value last week alone. Shares are now 50% lower than the 52-week high.

But does the war in the Middle East really alter the long-term structural demand for bricks and the underlying requirement for the UK to build more houses? Probably not.

Disconnections in markets can create opportunities for investors, and that appears to be what’s happening with Ibstock shares currently.

Looking beyond this year and two to three years in the future, demand brick is likely to return and filter through Ibstock’s earnings.

Persimmon unveiled an impressive set of full-year results on Tuesday, underpinned by strong revenue growth and rising completions.

Despite a challenging economic backdrop, Persimmon reported a 12% increase in completions to 11,905 new homes and an underlying pre-tax profit of £445.6m, up 13%.

Persimmon shares were 8% higher at the time of writing.

New housing revenue jumped 16% to £3.31bn, helped by a 4% increase in the average selling price to £278,203. The underlying operating margin edged up 20 basis points to 14.3%, while return on average capital employed improved 60 basis points to 11.7%.

These results should come as a breath of fresh air to investors who have observed pretty poor results from other housebuilders.

Growth came across all three of the housebuilder’s brands, with the outlet count rising 3% to 277 at year’s end as the group progresses towards its target of at least 300 sites. Net private sales rates excluding bulk improved 4% to 0.59 per outlet per week, though total rates were held flat at 0.70 by slower bulk sales in the fourth quarter.

“In part, Persimmon’s resilient performance in the face of current market challenges has been helped by its houses being priced around 15% below the newbuild national average, offering a more accessible price point to buyers struggling with affordability issues,” explained Aarin Chiekrie, equity analyst, Hargreaves Lansdown.

Persimmon continued to invest heavily in land, spending a net £541m in the year, up from £437m, while its strategic land pipeline grew 10% to more than 77,000 potential plots.

Current trading has been encouraging, with the net private sales rate in the first nine weeks of 2026 up 9% to 0.73 per outlet per week. The private forward sales position has risen 9% to £1.25bn, with average selling prices in the order book up 6%.

Mark Crouch, market analyst at eToro, said: “The figures suggest demand in the new-build market is holding up better than many feared, particularly as mortgage costs remain relatively elevated.”

“Encouragingly, Persimmon also reported a stronger forward sales position of £1.25bn for private homes at the start of March, indicating a steady pipeline of activity heading into 2026.”

Chief executive Dean Finch was cautiously optimistic about the outlook, noting improved mortgage availability and real wage growth, but flagged uncertainty about the conflict with Iran and its potential impact on customer sentiment, and, most importantly, interest rates.

Assuming that conflict in the Middle East proves short-lived, Persimmon expects to deliver between 12,000 and 12,500 completions in 2026, with underlying operating profit towards the upper end of consensus.

Concurrent Technologies has unveiled a new family of rugged embedded computing cards built on Intel’s newly announced Core Ultra Processor architecture, targeting defence, aerospace, and critical infrastructure applications.

The four new products, launched alongside the debut of Intel’s Panther Lake chipset, are designed to handle demanding workloads, including mission computing, sensor processing, AI-assisted edge analytics, and high-bandwidth data handling.

The suite of new products comprises Eir, Hermes II, Magni II, Caelus. Each has its own specialised capability, ranging from delivering increased computing performance to AI-enabled processing.

“These new products demonstrate our strategic focus on delivering high-performance computing solutions that are closely aligned with customer requirements,” said Miles Adcock, CEO of Concurrent Technologies.

“By expanding our SOSA-aligned VPX portfolio, revitalising our existing VPX and VME range, and integrating next-generation processor technology early, we are providing customers with clear upgrade paths, long-term lifecycle support, and the hardware-level security increasingly required in mission-critical programmes.

“The simultaneous launch of multiple new products also reflects the increased pace of innovation within the Group as we continue to broaden our portfolio to support future revenue growth.”

The FTSE 100 tumbled on Monday as oil prices soared above $100 to the highest level since 2022, raising fears of interest rate hikes and possible stagflation.

Much of last week’s discussion centered on the implications of an oil price above $100 for the global economy and financial markets. Oil crept higher last week but closed out Friday’s session still some distance from the key psychological level.

However, developments in the Middle East over the weekend meant that traders very quickly found out the impact of oil trading above the $100 mark after Brent oil traded as much as 22% higher in Asian trading overnight.

With oil trading like a penny stock, fear swept through financial markets, sending the FTSE 100 sharply lower on the open as UK 10-year bond yields surged to 4.75%.

The FTSE 100 was down 1.2% at the time of writing after bouncing off the worst levels of the session. The index was down some 190 points in the early minutes of trading on Monday.

Susannah Streeter, Chief Investment Strategist, Wealth Club, said: “Panic has hit equity markets after oil prices rocketed as fears materialised about a big squeeze in global supplies. London’s FTSE 100 has opened sharply lower, after steep falls in Asia, with the Nikkei plummeting 5% and South Korea’s Kospi almost 6% lower, adding to deep losses last week.”

“Crude prices shot up by more than a quarter as trading got underway on oil markets. It’s been the biggest jump since the outbreak of the pandemic, and investors are bracing for an inflation crisis.”

Some of the first signs of the inflation crisis can be found in interest rate derivatives markets, which are now pricing in rate hikes by the Bank of England and the European Central Bank by the end of the year. This is in sharp contrast to just 10 days ago, when investors were trying to work out how many cuts there would be this year.

Potential interest rate hikes sent waves through UK stocks on Monday, with interest rate-sensitive sectors among the heaviest hit.

FTSE 100 housebuilders are the go-to proxy for concerns about interest rates, and Persimmon fell 5% while Barratt and Redrow lost 3%. Traders are now pricing at least one rate hike this year – something the UK property market needs like a hole in the head.

British Land and Segro were both down close to 5%.

The risk of a broader slowdown in economic activity was reflected in mining stocks as investors choose to focus on global growth rather the inflation hedge commodities can sometimes provide. Anglo American was the FTSE 100’s top faller, tumbling 5.3% amid concerns about metal demand.

“One might have expected all types of commodity producers to be in demand if inflation picks up,” said Dan Coatsworth, head of markets at AJ Bell.

“When inflation goes up, investors often seek exposure to hard assets as they tend to retain value better than financial assets in such an environment. However, miners were among the biggest losers on the market on Monday.

Rolls-Royce shares gapped down 6% on the open before recovering to trade 4% lower at the time of writing.

Oil majors BP and Shell provided some balance with gains of between 1%-2%. But this was nowhere near enough to offset losses elsewhere. BAE Systems was also higher.

AIM-listed Phoenix Copper has dismissed its executive chairman, Marcus Edwards-Jones, and chief financial officer, Richard Wilkins, with immediate effect, following an internal investigation into their conduct.

The probe found that approximately $1.765 million in payments were made between 2016 and 2025 to Lloyd Edwards-Jones S.A.S., a corporate finance advisory firm owned by Edwards-Jones. The payments, made by Wilkins in connection with fundraising transactions, were never disclosed to the board or the company’s nominated adviser, despite constituting related party transactions. Wilkins shared in the proceeds.

A further £610,000 in unauthorised payments were also uncovered, some made without board knowledge to an intermediary linked to bond financing, and others made directly against the board’s instructions.

Phoenix said both former directors have indicated a willingness to cooperate with efforts to recover the funds.

Independent non-executive director Catherine Evans has stepped in as interim chair and is working alongside CEO Ryan McDermott to tighten governance and financial controls. An interim CFO has also been appointed to oversee the completion of the 2025 audit.

The company’s auditor, Crowe UK, has been informed. Phoenix said it does not currently expect its historic financial statements to require restatement beyond disclosing the payments as related-party transactions in its 2025 accounts.

Phoenix Copper also provided an update on their finances. The company said its current cash balances will cover obligations only through the end of the second quarter, but discussions with lenders Riverfort and Indigo Capital over existing facilities are ongoing. A further update on fundraising strategy is expected in due course.

Phoenix Copper shares were trading about 2% higher at the time of writing.