MORNING BID EUROPE-Bad for business? Brexit uncertainty hits

* A look at the day ahead from European Economics and Politics Editor Mark John and EMEA Markets Editor Mike Dolan. The views expressed are their own.

LONDON, Oct (HKSE: 3366-OL.HK - news) 10 (Reuters) - The British Conservative Party's traditional boast that it is the party of business is at risk, with policy uncertainty over Brexit making it increasingly tougher for companies to chart the future. After an outcry, Theresa May's government this weekend definitively climbed down on a proposal that would have required companies to list foreign workers. While the economy has fared better than many since June's Brexit vote, two surveys out today show a clear slowdown in the UK's massive services sector, with the British Chambers of Commerce poll pointing to boardroom confidence in future investment intentions and turnover at four-year lows.

German exports rebounded more than expected in August, posting their biggest rise in more than six years to stretch the trade surplus even more than analysts had been expecting. That underlines the imbalance many see between the euro zone's top economy and others in the region; but probably the main take-away from this is evidence that exports, which had been weakening, will continue to contribute to an expected expansion in the third quarter. Later on the Frankfurt-based Sentix research group publishes its October survey on investor sentiment in the euro zone: economists polled by Reuters predict a slight improvement to 6.2 from 5.6 points in September.

Euro zone finance ministers meeting in Luxembourg today could well approve disbursement of much or all of the money from the 2.8 billion euro tranche of loans Greece is waiting for. The payment looks likely given that Athens has now met almost all the 15 reform milestones agreed with lenders as conditions for the payout.

MARKETS AT 0655 GMT

If the Mexican peso is the proxy of choice, then markets are betting the weekend's events make a Trump presidency a more distant prospect. The peso rallied 1.4 percent on Monday after Sunday's second U.S. Presidential debate was seen as reinforcing the opinion poll lead Democrat Hilary Clinton has over Republican Donald Trump and as many top Republicans deserted the Trump campaign after a secret tape of sexist comments by Trump was released on Friday. Political betting sites and prediction markets now put the chances of a Clinton victory in November's election as high as 75-80 percent. Trump's pledges to raise barriers to Mexican trade and immigration have meant the peso is seen as a good market barometer of his electoral fortunes. His threats to renegotiate NAFTA in general also affects the Canadian dollar, although that was only about 0.3 percent firmer first thing Monday. The dollar was a touch softer in general after Friday's underwhelming US employment report for September. The main exception is sterling, which continues to fall after a torrid week in which the ruling Conservatives signaled a preference for 'hard Brexit' that would see them favour limits on migration over access to the EU's single market when Britain leaves the bloc. After recovering from a dramatic 10 percent 'flash crash' on Thursday night, the pound is on the wane again, sliding back below $1.24 in early European trading. - down more than 4 percent from last Monday's opening. The pound was further hit as the BCC said UK business investment hit a 4-year low in Q3. Elsewhere, the closure of Japanese markets for a holiday made for a subdued Asia trading session, but Shanghai stocks gained more than 1 percent as the yuan slid to a six year low. The rest of Asia bourses were little changed. European and US stock futures were slightly higher. Brent crude was slightly lower but held about $51.60.

Upcoming events/data/ themes for market reports on Monday:

* Europe corp events: Vedanta HY trading update, AXA (Paris: FR0000120628 - news) analyst meeting

* Swiss Sept jobless

* German Aug trade data

* Italy, India Aug industry output

* Norway Sept inflation

* Turkey Aug industrial production

* Czech Sept inflation, jobless

* Eurogroup meeting in Luxembourg (Editing by x x)