European equities gain around 0.5% today

European equities gain around 0.5% today with Spain underperforming as tomorrow's Puigdemont deadline looms. US stock markets opened with modest gains.

British pay growth has lagged behind inflation again, official data showed on Wednesday, adding to questions about how quickly the Bank of England will raise interest rates after an initial hike expected on Nov. 2. Britain's jobless rate between June and August held at a 42-year low of 4.3%.

A larger-than-forecast decline in US new home construction (-4.7% M/M) reflected the weakest pace of building in the South since October 2015, showing the fallout from hurricanes Harvey and Irma, according to government figures Wednesday. Building permits disappointed as well, declining by 4.5% M/M in September.

Easy monetary policy gives euro zone governments a window of opportunity to enact the reforms needed to boost growth once interest rates have to rise, ECB President Draghi said.

France's central bank governor Villeroy called for a reduction in the ECB's bond purchases towards "their possible end" in light of stronger inflation, while saying monetary policy should stay easy. ECB board member Lautenschlaeger called for a complete QE rollback in 2018.

Steven Mnuchin said that there is "no question that the rally in the stock market has baked into it reasonably high expectations of us getting tax cuts and tax reform done". He added that the spectre of regulatory relief has also been priced into stocks.

Germany's top court threw out a cease-and-desist request that could have halted the ECB's giant bond-buying program, offering some comfort to ECB policy makers as they prepare to extend the purchases into 2018.