As another action-packed year comes to a close, you’d be forgiven for thinking financial markets might take some time to settle before leaping back into action in 2018.

2017 has certainly been an adequate sequel to the soap opera that was 2016, but as we head into a brand new year, there are so many market themes yet to fully unravel themselves.

Which UK companies could be ones to watch as a result?

Housebuilders have always been a favourite of investors. Some of the most heavily traded stocks on the UK stock exchange, they are a key barometer for one of the most important events of the year.

Brexit negotiations continue in 2018, reaching the most crucial phase for the UK. A trade deal has always been the most important takeaway for the UK, and the Government’s negotiating team will have their work cut out for them trying to get the best deal for Britain.

Concerns that demand for UK houses will sharply decrease after Brexit should no deal be reached has seen the sector retreate in the final quarter of the year. Will that change in 2018?

Equally, traders of UK Banks will be closely following events in Brussels, with access to the EU’s single market being a notable area of contention.

But they’re also likely to react to events across the pond as the finishing touches are being put to proposed US tax reforms before the final version of the bill is placed on President Trump’s desk.

Barclays in particular still has a major exposure to the US, despite its peers exiting the world’s biggest economy in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis.

Other US-focused UK 100 companies include Ashtead and CRH, the former being a North American tool rental company while the latter provides building materials, and cruise operator Carnival, itself releasing a Q4 trading update next week.

The tax reforms are the most important pillar of Trump’s proposed economic policies, which is attempting to raise US productivity and growth. It could even stoke an entirely different market back into life in 2018.

The IPO market saw the first shoots of a recovery in 2017, however it is set to be obliterated by the multitude of 2018 IPOs already in the works.

Whilst its IPO might not have followed the script after retreating from its initial offering price, Snap Inc’s $33bn offering marked the biggest IPO since Alibaba in 2014. An impressive number that shook the cobwebs out of the marketplace, it pales in comparison to some of the names slated to list in 2018.

Photography and hobbies platform Pinterest – valued at $12.3bn – is rumoured to become the latest social media outlet to list in the US, while the $10bn Lyft, exploiting some of the trouble experienced by its better-known Uber, is attempting to beat its peer to public listing. Spotify, the biggest rival to Apple’s music platform, is widely believed to be preparing a $19bn offering at the tail end of next year, while Saudi Arabian state oil company Saudi Aramco will become the largest IPO of all-time should it list on the London or New York Stock Exchange.

You can trade all of these companies as and when they list using our brand-spanking new platform. Furthermore, our research team is currently compiling its full 2018 IPO guide, set to be released in the New Year. You can get access to this report, and a range of other daily publications from our award-winning researchers, by signing up on our website.

What better way is there to usher in Christmas and the New Year?

Krish Appiah, Trader, 15 December 2017