There is some trepidation in the air after last Friday’s ruling from the Supreme Court.
While tariffs are generally not seen as market friendly, investors had absorbed the trade policies announced by the Trump administration last year and were just hoping for some certainty and stability.
Last week’s intervention from the Supreme Court delivers none of that – President Trump’s subsequent announcement of 10% global levies, rising to 15% over the weekend, can stay in place for a few months before they require congressional approval.
This creates yet another cliff edge and the events of recent days have left global governments scrambling to work out whether the deals they had agreed with the US will be affected and also whether money collected by the US government will have to be paid back.
To date, the market reaction has been fairly mild. The FTSE 100 is only down modestly on Monday, benefiting from its precious metals allocation as gold prices move higher amid the uncertainty.
The dollar is a touch weaker and US Treasury yields ticked higher as traders weigh the possible impact on the US deficit. US futures are also pointing to a lower open on Wall Street when trading resumes later.
Later this week, markets will face a key non-tariff related test as the world’s largest company Nvidia announces its fourth-quarter earnings.
MONY Group
The owner of price comparison site Moneysupermarket, MONY Group, provided some reassurance to investors with its latest full-year results after a tricky period for the share price.
The move higher in the stock helped to repair at least some of the recent damage, with MONY Group among those names caught up in the recent wave of selling across software and data businesses on fears of AI disruption.
The concern is that artificial intelligence will eat MONY’s lunch. For its part, MONY has to prove that AI can be a useful partner and not disintermediate the business entirely.
MONY will be leaning on the strength of a well-established brand and its store of data as it looks to maintain its competitive position. Initiatives like the enterprise agreement signed with OpenAI last year and new services being rolled out on ChatGPT do suggest MONY is being proactive and not sticking its head in the sand when it comes to the impact of AI on its market.
The announcement of a £25 million buyback, following on from the £30 million programme delivered in 2025, also represented a display of confidence on the part of management.
Johnson Matthey
Johnson Matthey has served shareholders a nasty shock with the news not only of a delay to the sale of its Catalyst Technologies division to US industrial outfit Honeywell but also a big cut in the sale price.
At least there is no questioning the logic of a sale – with the agreement with Honeywell to slash the price tag reflective of the weak performance of the business unit in the current financial year.
Catalyst Technologies provides process technologies and catalysts to the chemicals and oil industries, with a focus on licensing technology for producing sustainable aviation fuels, low-carbon hydrogen, and methanol. Several of its licensing opportunities have been deferred of late and the market backdrop in general has been unhelpful.
Johnson Matthey already faces disruption to its biggest profit engine – the catalytic converter focused Clean Air division – from the move to electric vehicles. A move to a new business model emphasising cash generation may be progressing well and trading may be in line with expectations but it can ill afford the kind of setback it has endured today.
Russ Mould: Investment Director
Russ Mould is AJ Bell's Investment Director. He has a Master's degree in Modern History from the University of Oxford and more than 30 years' experience of the capital markets.
He started out at Scottish...
