MORNING BID EUROPE-UK services PMI: first test for rate hike logic

* 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, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Economists polled by Reuters expect a slight weakening in tone in the October PMI read-out of Britain's huge services sector due out at 0930 GMT this morning, an outcome which would do little to ease widespread concerns that yesterday's landmark increase in interest rates by the Bank of England was premature. One piece of data of course does not make a trend: the bank's policymakers argue the economy is able to cope with a slight reduction of its stimulus but made it clear further hikes are not on the agenda for now.

The Spanish judge in charge of processing charges against Catalonia's secessionist leaders is widely expected to issue today a European arrest warrant for Carles Puigdemont, the region's self-styled president-in-exile. The judge has already ordered nine Catalan secessionist leaders be held pending a potential trial over the region's independence push. Several hundred people took part in another protest called after the nine leaders were ordered held in custody - many fewer than the hundreds of thousands who staged demonstrations for independence in recent weeks.

The private funeral takes place today of murdered Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, a renowned blogger and fierce critic of the government who was killed on October 16 in a car bomb attack. Malta is under international pressure to ensure the investigation into Caruana Galizia's death leaves no stone unturned; European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans has said "the eyes of Europe" are on how the inquiry is conducted.

MARKETS AT 0755 GMT Markets seem to have greeted the appointment of Jerome Powell to the Fed with a shrug (no surprise there as Powell is expected to carry on with Yellen’s cautious line on monetary policy). A December rate rise is still a near certainty. Of more interest possibly is the U.S. tax-cut plan. It will be the biggest overhaul of the tax system since the 1980s, but it is by no means certain that the bill - which President Trump wants passed by Thanksgiving – will find an easy reception in Congress. The uncertainties pushed the dollar to one-week lows on Thursday and hit shares in a number of U.S. companies, especially property, as the bill seeks to cap the amount of mortgage payment eligible for tax relief.

So today, the dollar has steadied off the one-week lows and world stocks have pulled off record highs, ending a six-day streak of gains. Wall Street also retreated from all-time highs at yesterday’s close and Asian markets today are broadly flat to weaker as focus shifts to today’s jobs a data in the United (Shenzhen: 000925.SZ - news) States and the ISM's service activity survey. Expectations are for a sharp rebound in jobs growth after hurricanes depressed hiring in September.

Apple (NasdaqGS: AAPL - news) made fresh strides towards becoming the world’s first trillion-dollar company after releasing an upbeat forecast for the holiday season, lifting shares 4 percent in after-hours trade. The Apple iPhone X went on sale in Australia this morning and apparently is being resold for double the A$1579 sale price.

The other big event of this week was the Bank of England's first rate rise in over a decade. The move was panned by most economists - Fidelity, for example, called it an "odd decision" - but Carney’s pledge of a gradual pace of tightening pushed sterling more than 1 percent lower on the day while gilt yields fell sharply. Sterling remains near those levels today and few expect any relief from the October services PMI due today.

Sterling's decline helped the FTSE, however, except for a few domestically focused shares. The index is now on track for its biggest weekly gain in a month.

European shares are also marked to open higher and poised for a second week of gains. While earnings continue to roll in, today isn’t going to be quite as busy as previous days. In focus is SocGen (Paris: FR0000130809 - news) , seen dropping 3 to 4 percent after revenue at its investment banking arm fell 15 percent – this seems to be an industry-wide issue and one seen earlier at French peer BNP (Paris: FR0000131104 - news) Paribas.

Early indications expect L’Oreal’s shares to bounce 2 percent today after its Q3 sales beat expectations; SocGen increases provisions for legal disputes; Air France-KLM (LSE: 0LN7.L - news) profit jumps as price trends improve; Spain's Repsol (Amsterdam: RP6.AS - news) posts 88 percent jump in Q3 profit; Smith & Nephew (Frankfurt: 502816 - news) sees full-year growth at lower end of guidance; Erste Group on track to raise dividend after in-line profit; Evonik Q3 adj EBITDA up 11 pct, launches cost cuts; GEA Group (IOB: 0MPJ.IL - news) sees 2017 operating profit at low end of target range; Airbus begins external search for new sales chief; Carmakers launch pan-European charging network; France pares Renault (LSE: 0NQF.L - news) stake back to pre-showdown level; Apple suppliers such as AMS (IOB: 0QWC.IL - news) and Dialog Semi are seen slightly higher after better-than-expected numbers from the U.S. iPhone maker.

Emerging-market stocks were on track for a 1.6 percent weekly gain but Chinese stocks slipped with Shanghai on track to post the worst week since August amid heightened worries over an economic slowdown. Turkey’s lira is flirting again with the 10-month low hit last week, down 0.8 percent on the day and 1 percent since Monday for its eighth straight week in the red. Data showed Turkish inflation rising more than expected, with annual price increases hitting a nine-year high of 11.9 percent. South Africa’s rand is 0.6 percent weaker on gloomy private sector data.

Also in emerging markets, Venezuela announced late on Thursday plans to restructure "all future payments" on its burgeoning foreign debt. Russia’s EN+ priced its London IPO, which aims to sell $1.5 billion worth of shares in a transaction that values the group at $8 billion. (Editing by Larry King)