Europe closes mixed with Spain's IBEX down on Catalonia crisis; ConvaTec down 26%

European markets closed mixed Monday as investors monitored the latest in political news coming out of Austria, Spain and the U.K. The pan-European Stoxx 600 (^STOXX) was neutral with most sectors in negative territory. Spanish stocks were once again under pressure as political uncertainty drags on. Catalan President Carles Puigdemont failed Monday morning to give any clarity on whether he has officially declared independence. He said, however, that he wants to meet with Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. Spain's IBEX (^IBEX) was down 0.8 percent. Utility stocks were the worst performers, dragged down by tariff cuts. The Portuguese EDP fell about 4.7 percent after the regulator cut rates for 2018-2020. On the other hand, basic resources were the best performing stocks after positive data from China. The country saw producer price growth reaching a six-month high in September. Looking at individual stocks, Eurotunnel (Euronext Paris: GET-FR) rose about 1.8 percent, following an upgrade by Goldman Sachs. However, shares of ConvaTec tanked 26 percent after the firm cut its full-year revenue forecast and said it's been "severely" hit by supply issue at two divisions. Shares of the French retailer Carrefour moved 0.8 percent higher Monday after it announced that former Fnac Darty Chief Financial Officer Matthieu Malige would be its new CFO. In other retail news, British retailer JD Sports said it will float Footasylum next month. Tesco (London Stock Exchange: TSCO-GB) said it is seeking to pay down as much as £700 million ($930 million) of its debt as it tries to improve its balance sheet. Meanwhile on Wall Street, U.S. stocks opened at record highs as investors looked ahead to Netflix's quarterly results. Brexit woes, Austria moves to the right Meanwhile, British leader Theresa May will be making her way to Brussels on Monday to meet with Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission, and the European Union's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier. The announcement comes on the heels of news last week that Brexit negotiations between the U.K. and EU had reached a " state of deadlock ," following the fifth round of talks. Elsewhere, investors are digesting the latest election news coming out of Austria. The country's Foreign Minister, Sebastian Kurz declared victory for his party, the conservative Austrian People's Party, as the political party was seen to be on track to win the election on Sunday. Kurz campaigned mostly on a tough stance against migrants. Elsewhere, balance of trade data for the euro area showed a surplus of 16.1 billion euros in August from 17.5 billion last year.

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