LIVE MARKETS-European bourses jump on U.S. job data

* STOXX 600 up 0.8%

* NFPs, Chinese data lift markets

* U.S. futures rise

* Slow day for Q3 results

* All Saints Day on continental Europe Welcome to the home for real-time coverage of European equity markets brought to you by Reuters stocks reporters and anchored today by Joice Alves. Reach her on Messenger to share your thoughts on market moves: joice.alves.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net

EUROPEAN BOURSES JUMP ON U.S. JOB DATA (1413 GMT)

In this very calm day, the news that U.S. job growth slowed less than expected in October gave traders some comfort and sent major European stock indices to their session highs.

Germany's, France's, Spain's, UK's AND Italy's all accelerated their gains after nonfarm payrolls increased by 128,000 last month, beating the Reuters consensus of 89,000.

"All in all, risk assets can legitimately feel some kind of relief after the appalling Chicago PMI figure yesterday", said Stéphane Barbier de la Serre, Macro Strategist at Makor Capital Markets.

Ambrose Crofton, market analyst at J.P. Morgan AM also told us the data was somewhat reassuring.

“Overall, we remain comforted that the trend pace of monthly job growth remains above 100,000, below which would signal a more material deterioration in the economy".

See below the immediate reaction of the pan- European index to the US NFP data:

(Joice Alves)

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FARAGE, THE POUND AND A VERY QUIET DAY (1220 GMT)

This is definitely turning out as a very quiet day, even in Britain where traders and politicians don't stay at home to celebrate All Saints Day.

While many thought the launch of the Brexit Party campaign this morning could prove a defining moment of the winter general election (see), it just didn't.

Nigel Farage called on Johnson's Conservatives to build a "Leave Alliance", which he believes could deliver Boris, as he calls him, a very comfortable majority in Westminster.

It's quite hard however to imagine that the PM would ditch his Brexit deal in a ditch to secure the alliance with Farage, which Trump said yesterday would be "an unstoppable force".

So while it was expected the pound would rally if the Brexit Party chose to run in only 20 or so constituencies leaving the Tories unchallenged elsewhere, nothing really happened.

That's not the end of it yet as Farage gave himself two weeks to build his "Leave Alliance".

If no deal for an alliance is reached, Farage vowed to "contest every single seat", which will make this election particularly hard to call.

Traders didn't make much of the whole story with the pound trading roughly between $1.2945 and $1.2965 during Farage's speech and QnA.

Here's the main story:

Brexit Party tells Johnson: drop Brexit deal or we contest every seat

Below an example of the odds currently offered by bookmakers:

(Julien Ponthus)

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STIMULATING RISK APPETITE: A TRADE, FED AND BREXIT MIX (0958 GMT)

What's the magic mix stimulating risk appetite, which helped build up a decent performance in October?

Here's an long but comprehensive quote from a DB's October performance review which sums it up quite well:

"Risk appetite returned to markets once again in October as expectations that the U.S. and China were edging towards agreeing on 'phase one' of their trade deal, earnings season broadly bettering expectations, the Fed announcing that it would resume securities purchases to grow its balance sheet and even the latest twist in Brexit developments all combining to help to boost sentiment".

Sentiment is volatile by essence and could obviously change pretty quickly.

Today's NFPs will be key to set the tone for the beginning of November.

Anyhow, here's DB's overview of how October panned out for a panel of financial assets:

(Julien Ponthus)

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OPENING SNAPSHOT: SOME DECENT ACTION FOR A QUIET DAY (0846 GMT)

Ok, expectations were not that high for the open given the paper-thin corporate agenda but in the end, there's a decent amount of action going on across the STOXX 600.

Sure, nothing as spectacular as yesterdays drama around the PSA/Fiat Chrysler merger but still: Denmark's DVS is leading the pan-European index with an impressive 8% surge following the publication of its Q3 results.

Sweden's Loomis too is on a roll, up 7% and making the case that this Friday, it's all about the Nordics. In Amsterdam, ASM jumped 5.5% as it announced details of its buyback program.

Not all things are rosy in the North though with Danske Bank falling 4.4% on its results.

Among small caps, British car retailer Lookers is in free-fall, losing about 40% after it drastically cut its profit guidance.

The general picture of Euroopean stocks markets this morning is one of calm: main regional benchmarks are roughly up about 0.3% with all sectors in positive territory.

Here are the biggest swings on the STOXX 600

(Julien Ponthus)

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THE CALM AFTER THE STORM (0750 GMT)

Futures for the main European benchmarks are all trading in positive territory following some positive data from China and ahead of the NFPs.

After a busy week, there’s a pause in the Q3 earnings season this Friday so it’s expected to be calmer day than yesterday on the corporate front.

Among the few trading updates this morning, Danske Bank which narrowed down its full-year profit outlook, Drugmaker Novo Nordisk which reported operating profit slightly below forecast. Also O2 Czech Republic's profit decline slows in third quarter

One big mover will be British car dealership Lookers which is seen falling between 15% and 30% after it said this morning it expects profit to fall by more than two-thirds as the UK car market struggles with dwindling consumer confidence and margin pressures.

In M&A news, Lufthansa is said to be ready to invest up to 200 mln euros in Alitalia rescue.

Headlines are still coming from Italy: Insurer Cattolica ousted CEO over strategy differences.

Here are this mornings's main headlines:

Peugeot's turnaround driver, Tavares, faces his biggest challenge

Danske Bank narrows down full-year profit outlook, announces new goals

Drugmaker Novo Nordisk's Q3 operating profit slightly lags forecast

Nokia eyes Malaysian ports for 5G business as Huawei takes early lead

Lufthansa ready to invest up to 200 mln euros in Alitalia rescue - source

O2 Czech Republic's profit decline slows in third quarter

Spain's Cellnex gets storming investor support for British towers buy

Thyssenkrupp board member commits to steel ahead of unit review

(Joice Alves)

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EUROPEAN BOURSES SEEN HIGHER (0644 GMT)

European bourses are expected to open higher this morning following some positive data from China.

Asian shares reversed early losses as an unexpected bounce in Chinese manufacturing activity offset some negativity cast by yesterday's reports that Chinese officials doubt a trade deal with U.S. President Donald Trump is possible.

Spreadbetters at IG expect London's FTSE to open 31 points higher at 7,279, Frankfurt's DAX to open 68 points higher at 12,935 and Paris' CAC to open 27 points higher at 5,757.

On the corporate front, good news for green packaging companies as Britain's largest retailer Tesco said it will remove one billion pieces of plastic packaging from its stores by 2020.

(Joice Alves)

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(Reporting by Danilo Masoni, Joice Alves, Julien Ponthus and Thyagaraju Adinarayan)