MORNING BID EUROPE-Merkel under pressure on refugees; pre-Fed jitters

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

LONDON, Sept 15 (Reuters) - In the latest turn in Europe's refugee crisis, Hungary imposed tough new border laws at midnight to stall the flow of thousands of people seeking to enter via the Balkans. Hundreds spent the night in the open while others managed to pass through gaps in the fence Hungary is building along its border with Serbia. Hours earlier, EU ministers failed yet again to agree on how to share out the task of dealing with the hundreds of thousands who have already sought asylum this year. Expect much hand-wringing on the crisis in a European Parliament session today, but genuine consensus and action remains a far-off prospect. In Germany, Angela Merkel is facing questions from critics over her decision first to open the door to refugees then to temporarily re-impose internal border controls; she will meet leaders of Germany's powerful regional states today.

A final televised debate between candidates ahead of Greece's election on Sunday saw incumbent Alexis Tspiras and his main rival Vangelis Meimarakis rule out any prospect of the two working with each other in a coalition. We'll be picking through who won a contest rich in sound-bites but somewhat short on substance. The two are currently neck-and-neck - but analysts reckon up to 15 percent of voters remain undecided.

Britain's Labour Party, and European politics in general, is still trying to digest what exactly Jeremy Corbyn's party leadership will mean. More clues may emerge today when Corbyn speaks to the Trade Union Congress in Brighton, his first major speech since his victory.

On the economy, Germany's ZEW research institute gives its latest read-out on investor confidence in the euro zone's largest economy this morning. In the UK, while the Bank of England is not seen tightening until early next year, inflation data today will be closely watched with economists expecting on average a month-on-month price gain of 0.2 percent, with some forecasters putting it higher.

MARKETS

Shanghai stocks have lost another 3 percent plus this morning and are steadily grinding back down toward August troughs and the year's low as we await Thursday's Fed decision and as traders shrug off yet another sweep of remedial measures by the Beijing government while the economy slows further. Oil prices too are returning to August lows, with Brent back testing $46 and its lowest in nearly three weeks. The rest of Asia was more mixed, with Tokyo and Seoul up a bit after failing to hold strong early rallies. BOJ policy remained steady earlier but the central bank acknowledged the damage to the economy being sown by the emerging market upheavals and lowered its outlook. The RBA minutes out earlier likewise spotlight the risks of emerging market hits. A Barclays (LSE: BARC.L - news) survey of global investors showed fewer than 10 percent see emerging markets as having yet fallen to cheap enough levels to reconsider. Wall Street ended down last night and futures remain down there this morning. It (Other OTC: ITGL - news) 's unlikely there will be a major move either way before Thursday, and very unlikely it will be positive even if so. Treasury yields are a touch softer this morning, with the dollar treading water. European stock futures are pretty flat, with a slight negative bias if anything. The still positive spin on relative euro zone earnings growth continues to underpin the region along with the avowedly dovish ECB stance.

Other EM movers: Turkey's lira remains near record lows hit last week - the country is being closely monitored by investors who expect it to lose its investment grade rating following Brazil's downgrade last week. South Africa's Reserve Bank will release its quarterly bulletin for Q2 at 0800 GMT; government bond auction also planned for 0900 GMT. We're also monitoring Nigeria following last week's decision by JP Morgan to exclude government bonds from its index, and Aug. inflation issued at weekend at 9.3 pct. Other countries in focus include India, Slovakia, Bulgaria (inflation data), Poland, Czech, Romania (current account) and Ghana (rate decision)

On stocks, German energy companies are short of as much as 30 billion euros of the money they need to set aside to build a safe disposal site for nuclear waste as part of the country's exit from nuclear power, Spiegel Online reports.

Other stock movers: Adidas (Other OTC: ADDDF - news) is to become the official outfitter of the Canadian football league, taking over from Reebok; Airbus opened its first jetliner factory on U.S (Other OTC: UBGXF - news) . soil and does not anticipate taking a hit to aircraft orders from the economic slowdown in China; ARM said trading was in line with the outlook given at its second quarter results; Home improvements retailer Kingfisher (LSE: KGF.L - news) reported lower first-half adjusted pre-tax profits, but raised its interim dividend; Aeroports De Paris (Other OTC: AEOXF - news) saw a 3.5 percent increase in passenger numbers in August; German biotech company Evotec (Other OTC: EVOTF - news) raised its 2015 revenue outlook and Aberdeen Asset Management (Other OTC: ABDNF - news) announced the takeover of Advance Developing Markets Fund. EVENTS

MILAN - ECB's Governing Council member Ignazio Visco and Italian Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan give speeches at Euromoney Conference SWEDEN-CENBANK - Swedish central banker Per Jansson gives speech. Focus on outlook for possible further easing next month, as is being forecast by some economists. SWEDEN-POLITICS - The formal opening of parliament after the summer break, featuring Prime Minister Stefan Lofven's traditional speech mapping out the goals of his government in the current parliamentary term. HELSINKI - IMF forecast for the Finnish economy, current account data, final GDP OSLO - Norway's new home sales VIENNA - Banking conference in Vienna with ECB's Nouy and Nowotny MILAN - ECB's Governing Council member Ignazio Visco and Italian Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan give speeches at Euromoney Conference PARIS - France-Inflation Final STOCKHOLM - Swedish cbanker Per Jansson gives speech Monetary policy and wage formation AMSTERDAM - Netherlands-Retail sales BRUSSELS - EU's Dombrovskis and Moscovici in EU Parliament's economic committee LONDON - United Kingdom-Inflation LONDON - UK parliament's treasury committee to question head of UK Office for Budget Responsibility BRUSSELS - Euro Zone-Employment WARSAW - Poland inflation (Editing by Andrew Heavens)