Catalonia's Deadline & China's Data - This is What You Need to Know on Monday

Political developments around the region are likely to influence trading throughout the session

Author:: Edward Hardy
Publish date:: Oct 16, 2017 3:36 AM EDT

This is what you need to know on Monday:

1. European stocks opened higher Monday, following another solid assessment of economic growth in China, although political developments around the region are likely to influence trading throughout the session.

2. Spanish stocks will also be in focus as a 10:00am CET deadline looms for Catalan President Carles Puigdemont to clarify the breakaway region's declaration of independence. If the declaration is formalized, Spain's Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, could trigger a process known as Article 155 that would allow him to overtake control of the country's richest region.

3. Global oil prices jumped higher on the back of the news, which supports the record high level of crude imports recorded last month by customs officials, as well as concern that President Donald Trump may impose renewed sanctions on Iran after he decertified an agreement the 2015 nuclear agreement with Tehran.

4. Overnight in Asia, the broadest measure of share prices, the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index, held at a 10-year high while the Nikkei edged 0.47% past its 26-year high, closing at 21,255.56 points, thanks in part to stronger-than-expected factory gate inflation data from China and a forecast from the country's central bank that the world's second-largest economy is set to grow a 7% clip for the whole of 2017.

5. Early indications from U.S. equity futures suggest a small set of gains for Wall Street at the opening bell, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average marked 19 points, or 0.08% higher and the S&P 500 likely to add around 1.75 points, or 0.07%, when trading kicks off later in the session.

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