After a slight dip, oil prices are climbing once again. Around 12:00, a barrel of Brent crude from the North Sea, the global benchmark, was up 3.49% at 87.16 USD, following a 4.93% gain the previous day. Meanwhile, the North American WTI barrel advanced 5.99% to 84.11 USD, after jumping 8.51% the day before. "In an unfavorable scenario (25%), a prolonged conflict accompanied by damage to regional energy infrastructure could have a clearly negative impact on growth, inflation, and risk markets," notes J.Safra Sarasin.

As Tehran intensifies drone strikes and ballistic missile attacks against its regional adversaries, European Defense Commissioner Andrius Kubilius stressed Friday the need for Europe to ramp up its production of defense systems. "Europe clearly needs to increase its production of air defense and anti-ballistic missile systems," he declared at a press conference.

Unsurprisingly, the European defense sector is performing well on the stock market. In Paris, Dassault Aviation (+4.06%) and Thales (+1.44%) are standing out, as is Rheinmetall in Germany (+2.52%).

Elsewhere in corporate news, Atos (-1.10%) is experiencing a volatile session after soaring more than 8% at the opening. The struggling software group reported annual results above its targets and presented its growth outlook for 2026, 2027, and 2028.

Spie shares are tumbling nearly 5% Friday on the Paris stock exchange after the engineering company posted results deemed "rather disappointing" for its 2025 fiscal year.

In Frankfurt, Lufthansa (+0.59%) is rising after publishing its annual results and outlook for 2026. The German airline anticipates further improvement in its results in 2026, while remaining cautious in the face of uncertainties linked to the international geopolitical context.

On the Copenhagen stock exchange, Zealand Pharma is plunging by nearly a third (-30.85% at 255.35 Danish kroner) after disappointing results from a phase 2 study on petrelintide, a treatment for overweight and obesity. Following suit, its Swiss partner Roche is also falling (-2.86% at 341.45 Swiss francs). The two groups are collaborating on the development and commercialization of this treatment.

US Jobs Report in the Spotlight

On the data front, market participants, though concerned by recent geopolitical developments, will be closely watching the release of the US employment report for February.

Earlier in the morning, they took note of eurozone GDP, which grew by 0.2% in the fourth quarter compared to +0.3% in the third quarter.

On the currency market, the euro is down 0.24% at 1.1578 USD.