Europe midday: Stocks track gains on Wall Street, Catalan elections eyed
Stocks are edging higher come midday amid a positive start to trading on Wall Street with the Dow Jones Inudstrials making a fresh push into record territory.
"Global equities are trading higher into the afternoon as investors await key trading updates from five Dow Jones components. On the FTSE 100, buoyant commodity prices are helping to offset the impact of a disappointing set of results for Whitbread in which life-for-like growth at its Costa branches looked underwhelming, whilst positive Manufacturing PMI data and M&A speculation in the German banking space is helping the DAX higher.
"After breaking a run of six consecutive record closing highs, Dow Jones futures are pointing to a positive open on Wall Street ahead of results from constituents that make up over 15% of its overall weight," said Henry Croft, analyst at Accendo Markets.
Against that backdrop, as of 1500 BST the benchmark Stoxx 600 was dipping 0.35% to 389.68, alongside a gain of 0.88% to 22,577.77 on the FTSE Mibtel while the German Dax was edging higher by 0.08% to 13,013.96.
In parallel, Spain's Ibex 35 was ahead by 0.46% or 46.30 points at 10,208.30.
Meanwhile, in Spain, the top Spanish-language local media outlets from Catalonia were reporting that the regional president Carles Puigdemont was mulling calling fresh elections.
Nevertheless, it remained to be seen if Puigdemont would be willing to disavow issuing a unilateral declaration of independence.
According to a report in El Pais earlier in the day, the Socialists' parliamentary spokeswoman, Margarita Robles, said: "If elections are called within the constitutional and current legal framework, alongside a complete disavowal of the possibility of issuing an independent declaration of independence, there would be no reason to trigger article 155, which can only be put in motion upon approval by the Senate."
Yet in parallel, La Vanguardia was reporting that Robles believed calling elections would suffice to find a solution, in effect opening up a possible breach among the parties opposed to Catalan secession, according to that newspaper.
In the background, according to other analysts, markets were in a bit of 'holding pattern' ahead of the European Central Bank's policy meeting on Thursday, although for some observers substantial information regarding rate-setters deliberations had already been 'leaked' so the hurdle for surprises was now quite high.
On the economic front, IHS Markit's composite euro area manufacturing sector purchasing managers' index fell from a reading of 56.7 in September to 55.9 for October (consensus: 56.5).
Elsewhere, commenting on the results of the ECB's Eurozone bank lending survey for the third quarter of 2017, Dr. Loredana Federico at UniCredit said that: "The banks surveyed substantially confirmed the overall picture that had already emerged: that easing credit standards and increasing demand have continued to support loan growth in the Eurozone."
As expected, policymakers at the National bank of Hungary opted to stay put on interest rates after meeting earlier on Tuesday.
In corporate news, stock in Italian lender Unicredit had reversed early losses to trade higher after having mistakenly released its third quarter figures two weeks ahead of schedule, posting a 5.7% drop in net interest income to €2.5bn.
Sales at German sportswear manufacturer Puma jumped 17% to €1.122m over the latest three month period, alongside a 230bp increase in gross margins, led the company to raise its full-year sales and operating profit forecasts.