[MARKET ANALYSIS] Bourses tilt lower as energy benchmarks climb, MSFT, AMZN, META, GOOG, and QCOM ahead

European bourses (STOXX 600 -0.4%) began the session on a weaker footing as geopolitical headlines dictate the tape with WSJ reporting "Trump told officials to prepare for an extended blockade of Iran" and the US President posting this morning, "Iran can’t get their act together. They don’t know how to sign a non-nuclear deal. They better get smart soon! President DJT".
Equities face a busy session ahead, with geopolitical headlines likely alongside the scheduled: German inflation data (Regionals indicate a softer headline), US durable goods, Fed, BoC and BCB policy meetings; a Senate hearing on Kevin Warsh, and earnings from the likes of MSFT, AMZN, META, GOOG, and QCOM.
European sectors opened mixed, though they now show a negative bias as the index dipped lower. Energy tops the pile with Brent crude higher by around 3%, and tech also does well after NXP Semi's Q1 beat-and-raise after hours; Insurance and Retail lag.

Individual movers include:

US equity futures are mostly flat, NQ outperforms after NXP earnings, the name is higher by some 16% in the premarket. In other stories, Visa +4.5% in pre-market trading after it reported a Q2 beat, while Meta’s Instagram and Facebook were found to have breached the EU's digital services rules in a preliminary investigation. Earnings are ahead for MSFT, AMZN, META, GOOG, and QCOM after hours.