Europe open: Spanish stocks under pressure, Catalonia crisis still in headlines
European stocks are trading slightly higher early on with the exception of Spanish ones ahead of the all-important monthly US jobs report due out later in the day.
Weighing on sentiment towards Spanish issues, media coverage was focusing on some protests in the region of Catalonia after judges in Madrid ordered provisional jail for eight of the region's former ministers, including its vice-president, Oriol Junqueras.
The detentions raised a howl of criticism from several nationalist Catalan politicians ahead of the 21 December regional elections, including from the mayor of Barcelona, followed by some disruptions to traffic on a few highways in the region on Friday morning organised by anarchist outfit Arran.
Nonetheless, speaking to Spanish broadcaster SER, Spain's state attorney general, Jose Manuel Maza, reportedly insinuated he would not have ordered such measures if the eight detained ministers had said they would abide by the constitution. Instead, they had refused to answer when questioned.
He was also at pains to explain that their detention was only a precautionary measure and that the judiciary was acting independently and not at the behest of Spain's prime minister.
In Maza's opinion, the detainees could be expected to continue breaking the law if allowed to go free "by continuing to play-out the fiction that an independent Catalan republic now existed." The risk also existed that they might flee or destroy evidence.
Against that backdrop, as of 0943 GMT, the benchmark Stoxx 600 was ahead by 0.17% or 0.66 points at 395.60, alongside a 0.40% advance for the Dax to 13,494.01 and a 0.12% or 26.07 point rise on the FTSE Mibtel to 23,073.60.
Spain's Ibex 35 on the other hand was sharply lower, surrendering 0.8% or 91.0 points to trade at 10,366.80, amid falls in some of those lenders most exposed to events in the region of Catalonia, Banco Sabadell and Caixabank.
Euro-dollar on the other hand was only slightly lower, dipping 0.07% to trade at 1.1649.
Spain was also in focus on the economic front, with fresh data showing unemployment in the country increased by 56,844 people in October, following the typical seasonal pattern in the Meditteranean country after tourism-related hiring abates after the summer. Nonetheless, last month's rise was only a bit over half what is usually seen.
In Catalonia on the other hand, joblessness jumped by 14,698, roughly twice the average rise for this time of year.
Reacting to those data for the troubled region, Spanish employment minister Fatima Banez linked the increase in unemployment to the recent crisis in Catalonia.
The day before, the Spanish central bank had warned of the toll which prolonged uncertainty might have on Catalonia's economy.
Worth noting, CNBC reported that T Mobile and US outfit Sprint were working to salvage their planned merger.
Also on the corporate front, shares of German fashion icon Hugo Boss were getting pummeled despite management having lifted their full-year sales guidance.
Air France KLM was faring even worse, albeit on the heels of recent sharp gains in its stock price, despite posting better-than-expected third quarter results.
SocGen was another early casualty on Friday as the lender beefed up its litigation reserves by a further €300m.