Weekly note · 20 October – 26 October · published every Monday
FTSE 100 news tone: pharma and property led, utilities and banks lagged
The FTSE 100 news week from 20 October 2026 to 26 October 2026: what moved the tone, and which stories did it.
How to read a score. Each score rates how good or bad the news was for the company, from −10 (clearly bad) to +10 (clearly good). 0 is neutral, and anything beyond ±6 is strong and rare. It rates the coverage, not the share price.
The week in brief
Coverage of the FTSE 100 stayed positive all week, and two drugmakers and two property firms led it. Severn Trent, 3i and Imperial Brands had the weakest reads.
This note covers Tuesday 20 October to Monday 26 October. As always, the scores rate news coverage on a scale from −10 to +10, not the shares themselves, and anything beyond ±6 is strong and rare.
Written by ScriptGrain from MarketFrame's stored daily scores, and fact-checked against them before it is published.
Best covered this week
| Company | Week | 7 days |
|---|---|---|
| AstraZenecaAZN | +8.6 | |
| LondonMetric PropertyLMP | +8.1 | |
| GSKGSK | +7.5 | |
| SegroSGRO | +7.4 | |
| BAE SystemsBA | +6.5 |
Mood through the week
Coverage peaked on 22 October and was weakest on 20 October
Average tone across FTSE 100 companies with news each day, −10 to +10.
Thu 22 is the largest at 4.1, ahead of Fri 23 (3.0). Tue 20 is the smallest at 1.6.
Source: MarketFrame news analysis
| day | Average tone |
|---|---|
| Tue 20 | 1.6 |
| Wed 21 | 2.6 |
| Thu 22 | 4.1 |
| Fri 23 | 3.0 |
| Sat 24 | 3.0 |
| Sun 25 | 2.7 |
| Mon 26 | 1.7 |
Worst covered this week
| Company | Week | 7 days |
|---|---|---|
| Severn TrentSVT | −3.5 | |
| 3iIII | −3.0 | |
| Imperial BrandsIMB | −2.3 | |
| Lloyds Banking GroupLLOY | −1.8 | |
| DiageoDGE | −1.5 |
The overall picture
The average daily score across companies with coverage ran from +1.6 on Tuesday 20 October to a peak of +4.1 on Thursday 22 October (87 companies). It then eased: +3.0 on Friday, +3.1 on Saturday, +2.7 on Sunday and +1.7 on Monday 26 October. Coverage thinned over the weekend too, with 48 companies covered on Sunday against 91 on Friday.
Most positive coverage
AstraZeneca topped the list at an average of +8.6 over 179 relevant stories. It started the week at +5.5 and finished at +10.0. Sunday 25 October was the high point, dominated by strong Phase III results at ESMO, where Imfinzi combinations cut death risk in small cell lung cancer and bladder cancer.
LondonMetric Property came next at +8.1 over 19 stories. Monday's +9.7 came from a weekly recap noting half-year net rental income up 8% and a portfolio valued at £8bn.
GSK averaged +7.5 over 144 stories, starting at +8.3 and ending at +5.7. Its best day was Wednesday 21 October (+10.0), led by the FDA approval of Hibsago for chronic hepatitis B and accelerated approval of Jemperli in rectal cancer. A contract breach hearing involving Tesaro was only a minor negative.
Segro averaged +7.4 over 30 stories. Thursday's +9.0 reflected an update showing £70m of new rent contracted, up 32%, including a data centre prelet, with the Prologis takeover reported to be progressing.
BAE Systems averaged +6.5 over 134 stories. Its best day was Wednesday (+8.5), driven by a Pentagon framework deal for APKWS guidance kits. A reported cyber incident and doubts over UK defence spending tempered the tone slightly.
Most negative coverage
Severn Trent was the weakest at −3.5 over 31 stories, sliding from −2.0 to −6.3. On Wednesday an Ofwat finding that a unit breached its duties, plus wider wastewater scrutiny, weighed on it.
3i averaged −3.0 over just 8 stories. Thursday's −8.2 was about its shares falling over 4% after Carrefour cut its 2026 financial guidance.
Imperial Brands averaged −2.3 over 18 stories. On Tuesday (−7.8), Jefferies downgraded it to hold and cut its price target from GBP35 to GBP27, citing German tobacco tax rises.
Lloyds Banking Group averaged −1.8 over 84 stories. Wednesday's −5.2 followed a Google Cloud outage that disrupted Lloyds Bank and Halifax apps and websites.
Diageo averaged −1.5 over 94 stories, but it improved from −5.7 to −0.3. Tuesday's coverage was dominated by reports that India is probing Diageo and Pernod Ricard over Scotch imports, plus an investigation over pollution in a Moray burn.
Biggest shifts
Four companies swung hard between the first and last day.
- Barclays: −9.3 to +0.8. The start reflected a reported Bank of England examination of whether traders misrepresented private credit exposures. The end centred on its third-quarter profit.
- National Grid: −5.5 to +2.0. Early coverage covered staff accusing bosses of covering up blackout risks. Monday was led by a raised fiscal 2027 growth outlook.
- United Utilities: +6.3 to −2.8. The completed £50m Bury investment gave way to storm-related disruption to water supplies and a delayed housing development.
- NatWest Group: +7.0 to −2.0. Robert Begbie's appointment gave way to scrutiny over a second alleged Ponzi scheme and wider bank crypto complaints.
What kept coming up
The most common themes were share buyback (13 company-days) and analyst ratings (13), then q3 trading update (9), Jefferies buy rating (7) and upcoming results (7).
The week's days
| Day | Mood | Companies |
|---|---|---|
| Tue 20 Oct | +1.6 | 86 |
| Wed 21 Oct | +2.6 | 93 |
| Thu 22 Oct | +4.1 | 87 |
| Fri 23 Oct | +3.0 | 91 |
| Sat 24 Oct | +3.1 | 80 |
| Sun 25 Oct | +2.7 | 48 |
| Mon 26 Oct | +1.7 | 63 |
Every weekly note
- 20 October – 26 OctoberFTSE 100 news tone: pharma and property led, utilities and banks lagged
- 13 October – 19 OctoberFTSE 100 News Tone: Utilities and Buybacks Split the Week
- 6 October – 12 OctoberFTSE 100 news tone: Computacenter on top, Antofagasta at the bottom
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