[MARKET ANALYSIS] European equities firmer, Basic Resources rebound as metal prices shine; US equity futures hold onto Thursday's tech-led selloff

European bourses (STOXX 600 +0.2%) are firmer, with the SMI (+1.0%) the clear outperformer after Swiss Re (+5.5%) posted a 47% Y/Y rise in 2025 net profit while announcing a USD 500mln share buyback. Lagging behind its peers is the CAC 40 (U/C), with very company-specific news to drive the index. France and Spain has kicked off the day's inflation-packed day, with both countries printing hotter-than-expected annual figures. Later today, Germany is set to release its state-by-state inflation readings before the country-wide figure at 13:00GMT.
Sectors are mixed. Basic Resources (+1.6%) outperform, rebounding from its losses in Thursday's session. Telecommunications (+1.3%) are also gaining this morning after Spain's Cellnex (+0.3%) saw 2025 operating profit rise more than double annually. On the flip side, Travel and Leisure (-0.4%) is underperforming despite positive IAG (-0.3%) earnings, in which the Co. beat FY profit expectations and announcing a EUR 1.5bln share buyback.
Barclays (-0.6%) and Santander (-0.9%) have also followed on from Thursday's losses after Bloomberg reported that the Cos are among those exposed to the failed UK mortgage-finance firm, MFS.
Other key movers include Flutter (-12.9%) and BASF (-0.9%). After-hours in the US, Flutter reported Q4 revenue and earnings that missed expectations and issued softer-than-expected 2026 guidance. For BASF, the Co. released a mixed set of Q4 earnings but the weakness in the Co.'s shares comes from 2026 Adj. EBITDA guidance missing estimates.
US equity futures (NQ -0.1%, ES -0.2%, RTY -0.7%) have held onto Thursday's losses, which was hit by a losses in Nvidia (closed -5.5%) and then Financials following the MFS exposure risk.