Europe midday: Stocks turn higher as German exporters balance Catalonia angst
European stocks were picking up a little steam after a listless Monday morning, as slippage in the euro benefitted exporters but Spain's issues with Catalonia continued to cause some anxiety.
Not too long after midday in London, the benchmark Stoxx 600 was up 0.29% to 391.27, as exporters led the German Dax up 0.39% to 13042.02, with Spain's Ibex 35 trading lower by 0.29% to 10,193.20.
Over the weekend, authorities in Madrid approved a series of measures including the possible removal of the top officials in Catalonia, calling regional elections within six months' time at a maximum, assuming control of the local police force and - possibly - of the regional public broadcaster, TV3.
While Spain's central government was at pains to emphasise that regional autonomy had not and would not be suspended, Spanish PM Mariano Rajoy's decisiveness appeared to take some observers by surprise.
Indeed, there were some signs of tensions within the Socialist party - which backed Madrid but also has a regional affiliate in Catalonia, the PSC. The central government's proposed measures also drew criticism from the mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, who had a power sharing agreement with the PSC and until then had mostly kept to the sidelines.
In particular, the proposed control of the TV3 network appeared to be a bone of contention, even for some Socialists in Madrid.
But Spain wasn't alone in the media spotlight over the weekend.
As Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets pointed out: "In another headache for Brussels and EU leaders another populist candidate won a resounding mandate at the weekend, this time in the Czech Republic, following in the footsteps of Austria the weekend before. The established political order was swept aside by a party led by billionaire Andrej Basis who has been critical of the euro and the EU’s migrant policies.
"In Italy, where politics has always been complicated two of Italy’s richest regions, Lombardy and Veneto, held non-binding referendums over the weekend in an attempt to gain greater fiscal autonomy with the leaders of the two regions claiming an overwhelming majority were of the opinion that more of the revenue that is raised in the region should be spent in the region and not diverted south."
With these developments mingling with the Spain's constitutional scuffles, the euro was under pressure.
Analyst Henry Croft at Accendo Markets said European stocks were participating in a broadly positive to start the new week, welcoming a favourable Japanese election result, US bullishness on the back of tax reforms and the weakness of the euro helping Germany’s DAX to outperform peers.
The DAX was led higher by heavyweight exporters such as Siemens, Thyssenkrupp, Heidelberg Cement, Daimler and Volkswagen, which is more than offsetting losses for Prosibensat.1 and banks hit by worries over the Catalan impact on European financials.
As the week draws on, the market spotlight will turn firmly on to the European Central Bank, which is expected to be preparing to announce details of its bond buying extension after its meeting concludes with a press conference on Thursday.
"While the extension itself will come as no surprise, the size and duration of the extension will be of keen interest," said analyst Craig Erlam at Oanda. "With the extension largely priced in at this stage, it will be interesting to see whether we see much more upside in the euro which has already reached levels the ECB clearly deems to be uncomfortable in recent months."
Economic news was thin on the ground on Monday, with investors left to peruse figures showing an acceleration in the rate of growth of Switzerland's money supply from a 4.1% year-on-year clip in August to 4.4% for September.
A preliminary reading on euro area consumer confidence for the month of October was due to be published at 1500 BST.
No first-tier economic reports were scheduled for release in the States on Monday.
Consumer goods group Henkel may opt for non-organic growth in the US market, company boss Hans van Bylen told Welt am Sonntag.
Workers at Audi, a unit of German car manufacturer Volkswagen, were demanding five-year extensions of their job guarantees to 2025, according to Der Spiegel.