Europe open: Stocks mixed as investors play it safe ahead of trade talks
US-China trade talks to resume on Tuesday
ECB chief economist says change of forward guidance on 7 March "not clear"
Spanish Socialists plot to kill previous government's labour market reform
Stocks have started the session on a mixed note, with investors playing it safe ahead of another week of US-China trade talks and a slate of economic data due out later in the session.
According to reports, US and Chinese officials were set to resume their negotiations, on Tuesday, with America's Treasury Secretary and Trade Representative set to meet Vice Premier, Liu He, at the end of the week, on Thursday and Friday.
As of 0833 GMT, the benchmark Stoxx 600 was edging lower by 0.18% to 369.10, alongside a dip of 0.21% to 20,282.28 on the FTSE Mibtel, although the German Dax was up by 0.16% at 11,316.58.
Spain's Ibex 35 was also edging higher, adding 0.06% to 9,151.70.
Also weighing on sentiment perhaps, in remarks to Boersen Zeitung overnight, European Central Bank chief economist, Peter Praet, said that: "If the euro-area economy were to slow more sharply, we could adapt our forward guidance on interest rates and this could be complemented by other measures."
However, whether or not the ECB's Governing Council would open the door to such a move as soon as at its next meeting, on 7 March, was not yet clear "at this stage", Praet added.
Meanwhile, in Spain, according to daily La Vanguardia, the country's government would make a last minute push to overturn various aspects of the prior administration's labour market reforms, which were widely credited for boosting Spain's economic growth and helping to lift it out of the financial crisis.
According to La Vanguardia, the government wanted to at least make the attempt given the potential electoral value of such a move ahead of the presidential and regional elections slated for 28 April and 26 May, respectively.
There was also some concern that the back-to-back elections might to lead to some 'contamination' from the former to the latter.
However, in remarks to the state controlled broadcaster TVE-1, the day before, a political analyst from Madrid's public Compluetense University, was dismissive of such concerns, insisting that the government's underlying motives were exactly the opposite.
On the economic calendar for Tuesday, at 1000 GMT the ZEW Institute was scheduled to publish its economic confidence indices for the euro area and its largest economy, Germany, referencing the month of February.
Also due out were data on the Eurozone's current account surplus at the end of 2018, at 0900 GMT, and figures covering construction output in the single currency bloc during the month of January.
In corporate news, Reuters reported that US activist hedge fund manager, Elliot Singer, had taken a 6.1% stake in Dutch outfit Intertrust.