Global Stocks

Europe's broad-market benchmark closed higher on Friday, even as Spanish stocks tumbled as the Catalonia region moved to separate itself from the central government. A continued pullback in the euro and some well-received corporate earnings have helped to sustain buying momentum.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite closed at records on Friday, fueled by large gains in technology shares following better-than-expected quarterly results from heavyweights Amazon.com Inc., Microsoft Corp., Alphabet Inc. and Intel Corp. Equities were also buoyed by data showing the U.S. economy expanded at a solid 3% annual pace for a second straight quarter despite damages from two hurricanes, while the University of Michigan reported consumer sentiment in October was the strongest it has seen in 13 years.

Global stock markets were higher early Monday in Asia, with the end-of-week rally in key U.S. stocks driving gains in technology companies across the region. Strong corporate earnings from U.S. tech giants and others helped drive the Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 to new all-time highs on Friday. In Asia on Monday, markets that are tech-heavy outperformed, with Taiwan's Taiex Y9999, +0.55% rising 1.2%. Korea's Kospi SEU, +0.20% was last up 0.3%.