Caroline Hepker

Now we've got some breaking news this hour.

BNP Paribas has reported unexpectedly high fourth quarter profit and raised some midterm financial targets.

So the French lender achieved net income of 2.97 billion euros in the three months through to December.

The firm's also raised its target for profitability for 2028.

Meanwhile, the Spanish lender BBVA has reported fourth quarter profits of just over €2.5 billion, broadly in line with estimates.

Net interest income came in at over €7 billion, with some €200 million ahead of expectations.

BBVA's shares have doubled over the last 12 months.

And those are our top stories for you this morning.

Looking at the markets, the tech sell-off continues in Asia.

The MSCI Asia-Pacific Index is down by 1.3%.

Gold and silver continue to decline.

Gold is down by 1.2% this morning.

You've also got copper down today on the LME.

Bitcoin falling to a 10-month low in Asia.

Asia trading.

Looking at stock futures for Europe, we're also expecting a lower open here.

We're down by two tenths of one percent.

The Bloomberg dollar spot index is slightly firmer.

The pound and the euro are both lower this morning ahead of central bank rate decisions.

Those are the markets.