Head over to our US site for more market moving news. Happy Friday!

Axel Rudolph, senior technical analyst at online trading platform IG, said:

• Q4 Amazon earnings

• Q4 Palantir earnings

• Q1 Disney earnings

• Full-year results from AstraZeneca

Read more on what to expect in the week ahead from Yahoo Finance UK

Our US team writes:

A self-imposed Feb. 1 deadline by Donald Trump for a first round of tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China looms in less than a day as economic observers and world leaders try to plan amid the uncertainty.

On Thursday afternoon, Trump reiterated his plans to put a 25% tariff on imports from Mexico and Canada, repeating his warning against America's two top trade partners. But even then, he added to the uncertainty by saying some provisions remain undecided.

"We may or may not," Trump said at the White House about whether the tariffs would apply to oil. "We're going to make that determination probably tonight."

It was the latest in a series of comments and private signals that have offered little clarity and left many in wait-and-see mode.

Trump has consistently promised the tariffs are coming even as comments from his commerce secretary pick and a reported search for an 11th-hour deal suggest an off-ramp to delay tariffs remains a real possibility.

Read more on Yahoo Finance

Drugsmaker Novartis (NVS) headed higher in premarket trade on Friday, after posting quarterly adjusted net income well above analyst estimates. The increase comes off the back of sales of its heart failure drug, Entresto, and multiple sclerosis drug Kesimpta.

Entrestro, which will lose its patent protection later this year, saw quarterly revenues jump by a third to $2.2bn.

For Q4, net income rose 26% to $3.9bn. This surpassed analyst consensus of $3.6bn, Reuters reported.

Gold prices were flat on Friday morning, hovering at record highs, on concerns around US president Donald Trump's trade tariffs plans.

The spot gold price traded at $2,794.29 per ounce, while gold futures steadied at $2,844.20 per ounce.

Trump said on Thursday that planned to follow through on his threat to impose 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico on 1 February. However, Trump said he was still considering whether Canadian oil would be exempted from the levies.

Trump also suggested he was still considering imposing new tariffs on China, having previously put forward that 10% levy could be on the cards.

Reid said: "We’ll have to wait and see just what measures are implemented, or indeed if last minute concessions might yet be reached, or if the most aggressive tariffs are short lived.

"But it does look less likely that 1 February will pass with no tariff action and the exact approach may be instructive for how the new administration are going to approach the tariff question more broadly."

However, he added that "Trump has to follow through on some of his threats or he will lose some negotiating power".

There are concerns that trade tariffs could stoke inflationary pressures. Investors tend to look to gold as an inflation hedge, as well as a safe-haven investment in times of uncertainty.

Read more on Yahoo Finance UK

Apple (AAPL) stock was trading 3.4% higher in premarket on Friday, following a quarterly profit and sales report that came in ahead of estimates.

Net income was up 7% and sales were 4% higher from the same quarter a year ago. Meanwhile services revenue was up 14%, with revenue from China down 11%.

"Overall another very strong quarter," said Neil Wilson, analyst at Tipranks. "It was the first quarterly numbers since the rollout of Apple Intelligence, the company’s suite of AI features. Apple expects growth in the March quarter of “low to mid-single digits” and “low double digits” growth for its Services division."

For the year-to-date Apple stock is 2.6% lower, knocked amid a wider tech rout related to worries around Chinese AI challenger DeepSeek.

“The roll-out of AI services on iPhone 16 hasn’t exactly gone smoothly. Having been late to the AI party in the first place, Apple still hasn’t rolled out AI services in any non-English language," said Dan Coatsworth, investment analyst at AJ Bell.

"This cautious pace seems odd when you consider AI has exploded onto the scene and consumers increasingly have a lot of choice for AI-enabled devices. It’s like a carrot dangled in front of Apple and it only wants to nibble at it, rather than devour the whole thing."

“Consumers need a reason to upgrade their phone, otherwise they’re going to stick with their current model given how even the cheapest devices are fairly sophisticated these days. Apple is clearly hoping its AI services will be the catalyst to drive handset upgrades, but it’s going about it in a strange way."

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said on Friday it had secured a confiscation order of nearly £6m from Guy Flintham, a man currently serving a six-year prison sentence for a £19m fraud.

The fraudulent investment scheme operated by Flintham took £19m from over 240 investors, the FCA said.

He made several fraudulent claims to investors, including about how the scheme was operated and the profits they were making. He falsified documents to support his claims.

The court determined that Flintham’s criminal benefit was £23,932,204.84, with the confiscation order amount being owed £5,963,376.15, based on the court’s findings as to his available assets.

The confiscated funds will be distributed to the victims of his crimes.

The court imposed a default prison sentence of two years on Flintham, meaning that if he does not satisfy the terms of the confiscation order within three months, he will serve this further term of imprisonment in addition to the six years he is already serving.

Antony Codling, managing director at RBC Capital Markets, writes:

Our US team writes:

Tesla (TSLA) pledged a return to growth in 2025 on Wednesday after fourth quarter results disappointed, capping off a year that saw revenue rise just 1% while profits fell sharply from a year ago. On the earnings call, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that paid, unsupervised FSD (Full Self-Driving) is coming to Austin, Texas, in June.

Shares in the electric vehicle maker jumped nearly 4% in early trading on Thursday, closing the session 2.9% higher.

"With Unsupervised FSD expected to be available throughout the US by the end of 2025 and the rest of the world by the end of 2026 this will be a focus of the bulls," Wedbush analyst Dan Ives wrote on Thursday morning.

Pedro Goncalves writes:

January’s house price growth in the UK slowed more than expected, rising by just 0.1% month-on-month to £268,213, following a 0.7% gain in December. The surprise slowdown suggests potential impact of high borrowing costs on the housing market amid record mortgage rates.

According to Nationwide, house prices are still up 4.1% compared to the same time last year, but the annual growth rate has slow downed from 4.7% in December. The latest data suggests that the UK property market may be losing some of its previous momentum, as borrowing remains expensive and the cost of living crisis continues to affect many buyers.

Robert Gardner, Nationwide’s chief economist, said that while there has been a modest improvement in affordability over the past year, the situation remains difficult by historical standards. “A prospective buyer earning the average UK income and buying a typical first-time buyer property with a 20% deposit would have a monthly mortgage payment equivalent to 36% of their take-home pay – well above the long-run average of 30%,” he explained.

Read more on Yahoo Finance UK

US futures contracts are pointing to a positive open for the three major indices.

From our US team:

US stocks gained steam on Thursday afternoon as investors digested megacap tech earnings and waited for Apple (AAPL) results for more clues on prospects for Big Tech.

The S&P 500 (^GSPC) gained 0.5%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) rose nearly 0.4%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) was up nearly 0.3%.

Right ahead of the closing bell, President Donald Trump once again teased looming 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada. The US dollar (DX=F) index spiked on the news, reversing earlier losses to close near flat.

After the Federal Reserve stood pat on interest rates as expected, investors have turned to parsing earnings reports — and in particular, the first wave of results from the "Magnificent Seven" companies that have driven broader stock market gains.

Good morning! It's Friday. Taking you into the weekend we've got the latest news on markets and business.

This morning already we've had Nationwide's House Price Index (more on that later).

Earnings reports are also on the slate from:

• Fujitsu (FUJA.F)

• Novartis (NVS)

• Exxon Mobil (XOM)

• AbbVie (ABBV)

• Chevron (CVX)

• AON (AON)

Let's get to it.