Europe open: Stocks mixed despite record highs on Wall Street

Stocks on the Continent are trading on a mixed note, tracking record closes overnight on Wall Street, albeit amid renewed weakness in the periphery.

As of 1130 BST, the benchmark Stoxx 600 was off by 0.01% or 0.04 points at 390.09, alongside a 0.91% fall for the Ibex 35 to 10,161.90, although Germany's Dax was higher by 0.58% or 73.79 points at 12,902.65.

Spanish government bonds were outperforming however, helping to stem the widening risk premium seen the day before, with the yield on the 10-year note flat 1.71%.

Commenting on the situation in markets, Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK, said: "While equity markets in general may well be able to shrug off these events, what happened in Catalonia at the weekend could well weigh on investor appetite for risk in Spanish markets, after Prime Minister Rajoy's political miscalculation on Sunday’s vote.

"One thing appears certain, more of the same is only likely to make matters worse, and worsen the constitutional crisis in Spain."

In economic news, factory gate prices in the Eurozone advanced by 0.3% month-on-month in August and 2.5% on the year (consensus: 2.3%), as energy costs spiked by 0.7% on the month, Eurostat reported.

Meanwhile, the unemployment rate in Ireland was steady last month at 6.1%, with 133,200 people out of work, according to the Central Statistics Office.

US vehicle sales figures for September were set for release later in the day, alongside a speech from Federal Reserve governor Jerome Powell later in the day.

German logistics group Deutsche Post is planning to test deliveries with fuel-cell driven vans, Der Spiegel reported citing director Juergen Gerdes.

In notable broker recommendations, JP Morgan lowered its view on Spanish energy outfit Iberdrola to 'neutral'. There is valuation support for the shares at around €14.3 but the list of headwinds they are facing has become too long, the analysts said, give the political uncertainty in Spain.

Meanwhile, analysts at Credit Suisse downgraded their recommendation on stock of Ericsson from 'neutral' to 'underperform', slashing their target on the shares from 50 krona to 38 krona in the process.