European Markets Are Climbing Higher Ahead Of Retail Sales Figures

European stocks are rising this morning:

Germany's DAX is up 1.18%

Spain's IBEX is up 0.68%

Italy's FTSE MIB is up 1.35%

The UK's FTSE 100 is up 0.66%

France's CAC 40 is up 0.92%

In Asia, the Nikkei climbed a little, up 0.44% after big boosts on Tuesday and Friday. Hong Kong's Hang Seng closed down 0.63%.

US futures are also up. The S&P is currently up 6.75 points and the Dow is up 58 points.

At 10 a.m. GMT we've got eurozone retail sales. Analysts are already expecting a 0.8% drop between August and September.

Later, from the US, mortgage application data for the week to 31 October are out at 12 p.m. GMT. At 2.45 p.m. GMT and 3 p.m. GMT, respectively, we'll have Markit and ISM services PMI numbers. Analysts expect a cooling from both.