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EUROPE BEFORE THE BELL: MUTED START

European equity index futures are trading mixed on Friday, struggling for direction as investors grapple with prolonged peace negotiations and a stuttering AI trade.

Euro STOXX 50 futures are little changed. CAC FCEc1 and FTSE futures FFIc1 are up a touch while DAX futures FDXc1 are a little softer.

Hopes for a peace deal in the Middle East took a turn on Thursday after the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia rejected a new ceasefire in Lebanon. Iran has made a ceasefire in Lebanon a condition for any peace deal with Washington.

Away from Iran, and a pause in the AI trade is in focus, although that will likely have less of an impact on the broader European market than elsewhere, given the bloc's smaller tech hardware sector. That said, shares in Nokia NOKIA.HE and Infineon IFXGn.DE are down 4.5% to 5%, while ASML ASML.AS is down 2% and BESI BESI.AS is off 1% on the Tradegate retail platform.

Stocks in Asia ex-Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS fell 2.3% overnight, led by a more than 5% drop in South Korea's Kospi .KS11. Japan's Nikkei 225 .N225 fell 1.3%.

Nasdaq futures NQcv1 are also down in the U.S., as tech stocks weaken for a second day following Broadcom's AVGO.O underwhelming results on Wednesday after market.

Looking forward, markets could be subdued before pivotal U.S. jobs data, due at 1230 GMT.

(Samuel Indyk)

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