Europe open: All eyes on EU summit, Spain
Stocks have started the morning trading lower, with investors focused on the summit of European Union heads of state later in the day and events in Spain given the looming deadline for Catalan officials to make their intentions clear.
Against that backdrop, as of 0831 BST, the benchmark Stoxx 600 was down by 0.26% or 1.01 points to 390.55, while Germany's Dax was off by 0.15% or 20.0 points at 13,023.48, alongside a dip of 0.11% on Spain's Ibex 35 to 10,263.00.
Commenting on what was at stake in Brussels, Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK, said: "It's also EU summit day today and for all the talk of compromise there seems to be precious little of either coming from either side, with the EU side actually tightening up their guidelines when it comes to money. With nerves starting to fray on the part of business there is a concern that politicians on both sides are playing with fire. A hard Brexit would not only be damaging for the UK but also for Europe, and Ireland in particular."
Regarding Spain, according to local reports Catalan officials continued to play 'cat and mouse' with authorities in Madrid. According to La Vanguardia, on Wednesday evening the centrist nationalist PDECat party closed ranks behind regional president Carles Puigdemont's push for independence.
Puigdemont was also reportedly set to send a second letter to the Spanish PM on Thursday morning stating that he would 'reactivate' the up until now suspended declaration of independence if Madrid used Article 155 of the country's constitution in order to impose a return to legality.
For their part, the main political parties in Madrid decided overnight to 'de facto' extend a third deadline to Puigdemont as it would take several days to obtain approval from the Spanish Congress to apply Article 155, most likely between 27 October and 31 October, El Mundo reported. The prior deadline had been Thursday at 1000 CET.
On the economic calendar for the current session was the summit of EU 27 leaders later in the day, alongside a reading on consumer confidence in Belgium due out at 1300 BST.
Stateside, the main release on traders' radar would be the so-called Philly Fed manufcaturing sector survey for October at 1330 BST.
Meanwhile, in the corporate space, German battery-maker Varta began trading in Frankfurt following an IPO that saw its shares priced to go at €17.5, at the to end of the indicative range.
Pernod Ricard announced stronger-than-expected underlying sales for its first fiscal quarter of 5.7% thanks to strong demand in China and the US.
Carrefour on the other hand saw revenue growth slow over the three months to September, chiefly as a result of soft demand in France.