As we digested another packed week of earnings, some interesting trends for two key UK 100 sectors began to emerge. The constituents of the blue chip UK 100 index have always been influenced by politics and economics; it would be worrying if they weren’t! But after this particularly busy week, we’ve seen both Housebuilders and Pharmaceuticals rally as a result of some key developments to 2017’s key topics. This week, we’ll try to break down the latest revelations that have influenced some of the best loved and most traded sectors on the London Stock Exchange.

First, we’ll look at Housebuilders, which, as a UK-focused sector that regularly features as one of the most highly traded on the UK 100 , was always bound to see significant price movements in an important week for the UK economy.

Not only did we have the Bank of England meeting for the first time in 2017 to update monetary policy, we also had saw the House of Commons debates and vote on Article 50 taking place. The BoE left policy unchanged as expected, while Parliament voted that Article 50 can be triggered by the Government despite a small portion of opposition.

This led the sector largely higher as some uncertainty subsided, while alongside the politics we also saw important house price and construction data releases. As a result, UK 100 Housebuilder Barratt Developments (BDEV) was one of the top 3 risers on the index this week, while peers Persimmon (PSN) and Taylor Wimpey (TW.) join the top 15.

Next week sees further house price data released on Tuesday and Thursday, as well as constituent Bellway warming up for aforementioned Barratt Developments on the 22nd. Can Bellway lay some stable foundations?

After the Housebuilders, the next sector we’ll be taking a closer look at is the Pharmaceutical sector. Another popular range of companies, Pharmas have been at the mercy of the new US President Donald Trump for some time now. Only days after he was elected, Trump blasted the sector in the US, claiming that companies were “getting away with murder!”

Yet fast forward two months and the 45th President seems to be taking a softer approach. In a meeting with US CEOs, Trump stated that he was looking into deregulating some drug approval measures required in the US, which resulted in companies on this side of the Atlantic riding the coattails of their American peers.

Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) rallied over 4% this week to find itself in the top 10 UK 100 risers, while rival AstraZeneca (AZN) was hot on its heels, up by around 3%. When GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), the UK Index ‘s largest Pharma by weight, reports on Wednesday, will the sector continue on a high?

But it doesn’t just stop with just Housebuilders and Pharmaceuticals! Some other key dates are coming up next week that you should not miss.

In the midst of a topsy turvy week for crude oil prices, Shell (RDSb) reported its full year results on Thursday. Can its peer BP (BP.) mirror Shell’s 2.0% daily rally when it reports on Tuesday? Meanwhile Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) was one of the top 10 risers this week, leaving the stock over 14% higher since the turn of the year. When it reports on Wednesday, will it add to an already stellar 2017?

With all of these dates needing to go into your diary, perhaps you might like some outside help to keep track of things. Fancy a no nonsense round up of the week’s events and stay informed of the latest news? Look no further. All you have to do is sign up to trial our research here to make sure that you receive daily calendars, the latest movers & shakers, and more, for free! It’s as simple as that.

Tom Cook, Trader, 3 February