Weekly Reviews / 30 March 2026

Week 4 Portfolio Summary

A difficult market backdrop kept the account under pressure, but the week included a deliberate rebalance away from some speculative exposure and into steadier positions.

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Weekly Commentary The portfolio is currently sitting at around £1,860, down from roughly £1,999 at the start. That means the account is still under pressure overall, but the recent weakness continues to look more like a difficult market backdrop than a sign that the whole portfolio structure is broken. The broad picture still feels similar to last week: the core remains intact, while the more volatile sleeve has been the main source of pressure. The most important development this week was the rebalance I made within the portfolio. Compared with the original build, I reduced some of the more speculative exposure by trimming IonQ and Symbotic, and then reallocated capital into steadier positions. Specifically, I cut 1.5 shares of IonQ and 0.8 shares of Symbotic, while increasing SGLN, Meta, and Realty Income. The idea was not to trade for the sake of it, but to improve the balance of the account by slightly lowering the higher-risk exposure and reinforcing positions that fit the broader framework better. We also realised a loss of about $10 when trimming IonQ and Symbotic. I do not see that as a major issue on its own. In the context of the full portfolio, it was a relatively small realised loss taken in order to improve positioning rather than sit passively in trades that had become too large a source of volatility. In that sense, the decision still looks disciplined rather than emotional. The wider market environment is still being driven heavily by the situation in the Middle East. Trump recently said attacks would pause for ten days while talks continue. That pause has helped reduce some immediate worst-case fear, but it has not removed the uncertainty because the conflict is still ongoing and markets are still trying to work out what happens next. That uncertainty is still showing up clearly across global markets. Oil remains elevated because investors are still worried about escalation and supply disruption, while broader equity sentiment is being weighed down by the possibility that higher energy prices feed back into inflation and weaker growth. This is important for my portfolio because that kind of environment tends to weigh on exactly the parts of the market that I own most: growth stocks, speculative names, REITs, and rate-sensitive defensives. In other words, the market is still recovering from speculation around what may happen next in the region, but it has not yet fully stabilised. My own view for now is that Iran is likely to respect Trump’s current pause for the time being, or at least avoid doing anything that immediately forces a new round of escalation before the deadline. That is my interpretation rather than a confirmed fact, but it fits with the current market behaviour: traders seem to be treating the pause as a temporary window for diplomacy, not as a final resolution. Over the next two weeks or so, I think the most likely outcome is continued volatility rather than a clean recovery. If diplomacy holds and the current pause extends into something more stable, the portfolio should have room to recover gradually, especially in the core growth positions like Meta, Alphabet, and ASML. Gold may stay firm either way because it is still benefiting from uncertainty. Realty Income and NextEra could also improve if yields calm down. But if the pause breaks and the conflict escalates again, then I would expect oil to stay high, inflation fears to increase, and the weaker parts of the portfolio, especially the higher-beta names, to remain under pressure. My overall conclusion for Week 4 is that the portfolio still makes sense, but it is going through a period where the market backdrop is making things harder than usual. The recent changes were sensible because they reduced some speculative exposure, added slightly more weight to steadier names, and kept the account aligned with the original framework. The main job now is to stay disciplined, let the stronger core continue to do the structural work, and avoid overreacting while the broader geopolitical picture is still unsettled. Current Stock Holdings Latest open holdings, including your corrected Meta and Realty Income share counts. Ticker Holding Shares now ABNB Airbnb 1.2230 ASML ASML Holding 0.1190 BRK.B Berkshire Hathaway 0.3884 GOOGL Alphabet 0.8032 IONQ IonQ 2.1190 META Meta Platforms 0.4200 NEE NextEra Energy 2.0400 O Realty Income 3.2780 QQQA UBS Nasdaq-100 (Acc) 6.5662 RHM Rheinmetall 0.0868 SGLN iShares Physical Gold 4.7193 SYM Symbotic 1.7680 VUAG Vanguard S&P 500 (Acc) 2.0366

Key Changes From the Original Build • IonQ reduced by 1.5 shares • Symbotic reduced by 0.8 shares • SGLN increased by approximately 0.36 shares • Meta increased to 0.4200 shares • Realty Income increased to 3.2780 shares