Madrid

S&P500 futures point to a slightly lower open, as Asian stocks rise to trade near decade highs, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 closing at highest since 1996. European stocks are little changed, with Spanish shares gaining after Catalan President rows back from an immediate declaration of independence. MSCI's all-world stocks index briefly hit a fresh record high in opening European trading as a 1.5% jump in Spain's IBEX added to a 10-year high set by Asian shares overnight.

Via The Daily Bell

It’s all illegal! That’s Madrid’s position on the referendum in Catalonia. Of about 5.5 million eligible voters, about 2.4 million chose–or were able–to cast ballots. 90% of them voted in favor of independence from Spain.

Spanish courts have ruled, and leaders have repeated, that the country’s Constitution does not allow a region to separate. European Union courts have echoed this position.

While the world desperately tries to shrug off the implications of Catalonia's independence vote (and Rajoy's warnings of potential reactions), investors are rapidly exiting positions in Spanish stocks and bonds...

IBEX (the main Spanish stock index) just plunged to its lowest level since March (as European stocks - Stoxx 600 - hits a 4-mointh high)...

And Spanish sovereign bonds are getting clobbered...

Update (10:30 am ET): The number of people injured in clashes between pro-independence voters and riot police dispatched to the restive region by the government in Madrid has climbed to 337, including at least 11 police officers, the Daily Star reports.

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As we have detailed previously, the Spanish region of Catalonia in the North-Eastern corner of Spain will attempt to hold an independence referendum tomorrow, against the will of the central government in Madrid.

Apart from the Baleares and the Madrid region itself, Catalonia together with its capital Barcelona is one of the most economically-powerful parts of the country.