[MARKET ANALYSIS] FTSE 100 outperforms following upbeat AZN LN and BP/ LN earnings; NQ dips below 29k amid disappointing tech earnings

• European bourses are mixed to start the final trading session of the week, with the FTSE 100 (+0.3%) outperforming following positive earnings from AstraZeneca and BP (see more below). Heading into the start of trade, focus was on the after-hours earnings from Amazon and Intel, which caused a slump in tech names overnight.
• For Amazon (-6.7% pre-market), its Q3 EPS and Q4 operating income guidance missed estimates while Intel's (-25.8% pre-market) Q4 EPS and revenue guide missed consensus. This weakness follows Alphabet’s record drop in Thursday’s session, ending lower by over 12%.
• This morning was a big day for the FTSE 100, with AstraZeneca, BP and NatWest reporting earnings. Starting with Astra (+3.3%), its Q3 adj. EPS and revenue beat estimates, with sales for its blockbusters Imfinzi and Tagrisso also higher than expected. As well as reconfirming FY guidance, the pharma giant announced a cost-savings plan over three years, which includes a USD 2bln one-time restructuring charge. For BP (+0.4%), its profit surged to the highest in 18 years, while its focus on cutting debt continues to pay off. To end with NatWest (-4.3%), despite the bank sticking with its FY guidance, its shares are under pressure, with some analysts pointing to a lack of certainty around earnings from interest in the coming years.
• Other key movers include: Sanofi +5.5%, upgrades its FY profit forecast as Dupixent sales top estimates; Credit Agricole -2.0%, a mixed report as capital missed estimates and loan losses rose; Audi, cuts its FY operating margin guidance; Evonik, rejects takeover talks with BASF; Puma +7.2%, narrows its 2026 operating loss guidance as Q3 sales beat expectations.
• US equity futures are mostly lower, with the NQ (-2.2%) sliding for another session after disappointing earnings from Amazon and Intel. NQ futures now slip below the 29k mark, as focus turns to the 200-SMA at 28.5k.

Sessions of this kind, where a heavyweight domestic index decouples from a tech-led US tape on single-stock earnings, are a recurring feature of results season and tend to reflect index composition rather than any divergence in macro signal: the FTSE 100's outsized pharma and energy weighting means beats from names like AstraZeneca and BP can carry the benchmark even as US growth names sell off. The pattern on the US side is also familiar, with mega-cap guidance misses clustering within a reporting window and the Nasdaq bearing the brunt given concentration, so follow-through has historically hinged on whether the misses read as company-specific or as a common demand signal across the group; round-number breaks in NQ futures have typically put the next watched level on the longer moving averages, which is where the technical conversation now sits. The AstraZeneca report fits an established template in which a pipeline-driven beat is reinforced by a restructuring and cost-savings programme, a combination that has tended to be received well even with a sizeable one-time charge attached. BP's strength on debt reduction echoes the sector's post-comeback playbook, where capital discipline rather than the commodity price alone has driven relative performance among the integrated oils. NatWest's decline despite reaffirmed guidance illustrates a pattern that has recurred across UK and European bank results: as rate cycles crest, the market's focus shifts from current net interest income to its durability, and ambiguity on that point has reliably drawn selling even on in-line prints. Worth noting is whether the pre-market losses in Amazon and Intel hold into the cash open, since gap moves of that size in liquid mega-caps have often set the tone for the sector into the following session.