European Markets Are Sinking

European stock markets are falling after opening flat.

Here's the scorecard:

France's CAC 40 is down 0.42%

Germany's DAX is down 0.72%

The UK's FTSE 100 is down 0.19%

Italy's FTSE MIB is down 0.79%

Spain's IBEX is down 0.56%

Asian markets are solidly up. Japan's Nikkei closed up 0.43%, touching its highest level in 7 years, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng closed up 0.55%.

US futures are down a hair: the Dow is 14 points lower and the S&P 500 is 2.245 points down.

Today, there's big data out of Europe, with UK unemployment at 9:30 a.m. GMT and eurozone industrial production at 10 a.m. ET. Analysts expect UK unemployment to dip to 5.9% and that industrial production in Europe rose 0.7% between August and September.

At 10:30 a.m. GMT, the Bank of England's inflation report is out: the quarterly update gives the central bank's view of the economic outlook and the hints of when interest rate hikes may finally begin.

At 12:00 p.m. GMT there are mortgage application numbers from the US for the week to November 7, and after the close in Europe there's a speech from dovish Fed regional president Narayana Kocherlakota.