With the stock market turning increasingly volatile in recent weeks, fears are once again rising that a correction or even a full-blown crash could emerge later this year.
At the heart of this renewed pessimism stands the Iran war, which is triggering an energy inflation shock due to the disruption of the flow of oil & gas through the Strait of Hormuz. As such, most central banks have hit pause on their interest rate cutting policies, economic growth forecasts have been slashed, while recession probabilities from institutional analysts are being revised upwards.
With all that in mind, it might sound like a good idea to stay on the sidelines and wait for a market crash to happen before investing any money. But in practice, this might be a critical and costly mistake. Here’s why.
In the short term, the stock market is near-impossible to predict. Unexpected catalysts for rallies and sell-offs can emerge without warning, and it’s why trying to time the market is almost always a losing endeavour.
All too often, investors waiting for disaster to strike often miss the bottom and end up buying shares at higher prices after the recovery has begun.
Looking at the data, analysts have discovered that missing just 10 of the best trading days by trying to time the market would have cut a portfolio’s return in half over the last 30 years. And since the best days are always clustered around the worst, investors who are trying to perfectly time the bottom are at serious risk of missing out.
Instead, the evidence overwhelmingly supports holding through stock market storms and using the volatility to buy more shares at a discount.
Even with higher levels of uncertainty, several UK stocks remain high-conviction picks among institutional investors in April. And among these stands GSK (LSE:GSK) – the UK’s second largest pharmaceutical giant.
In 2025, GSK beat analyst forecasts on almost every metric, with pre-tax profits and core earnings per share charging ahead by double digits. But in 2026, this momentum might be set to accelerate even further.
Management anticipates receiving another two major drug approvals from regulators while also aiming to kick-start 10 new pivotal clinical trials and provide updates for five ongoing major trials as well.
In other words, the business has a lot of potential growth catalysts scattered throughout 2026. And while higher energy costs and economic weakness do create some potential headwinds, healthcare demand’s notoriously resilient to recessions.
