Nov 26 - Welcome to the home for real-time coverage of markets brought to you by Reuters reporters. You can share your thoughts with us at markets.research@thomsonreuters.com BEARS POKE THEIR HEADS UP (1137 EST/1637 GMT)The percentage of investors with a bearish short-term outlook for the U.S. stock market has risen to its highest level since early October in the latest American Association of Individual Investors Sentiment Survey (AAII). With this, both bullish and neutral sentiment declined. With these changes, the bull-bear spread fell to -1.90 from +11.6 last week read more :U.S. ON THE MAT (1056 EST/1556 GMT) U.S. stocks are being tossed to the floor on Black Friday, triggered by the discovery of a new and possibly vaccine-resistant coronavirus variant. Not surprisingly, given renewed coronavirus concerns, more economically sensitive groups and "re-opening plays" are being hit especially hard, while defensive groups see less severe declines. Banks (.SPXBK) and small caps (.RUT) are down more than 4%. Energy (.SPNY) is sliding nearly 6%, while NYMEX crude futures are collapsing more than 11%. The 10-Year U.S. Treasury yield has plunged to the 1.50% area. Healthcare (.SPXHC) is a bright spot as the only major S&P 500 (.SPX) sector up on the day, though just fractionally. This chart shows action in a composite of five major re-opening plays vs a composite of five major stay-at-home stocks : As the re-opening group is hit relatively harder vs stay-at-home plays, the ratio is on track for its biggest daily percentage decline in more than a year. Meanwhile, retail stocks are also down sharply on this Black Friday. The SPDR S&P Retail ETF (.XRT.P) is off more than 3%. Here is where markets stand in mid-morning trading: U.S. STOCKS POISED TO PLUNGE (0900 EST/1400 GMT) U.S. equity index futures are sliding on Friday, with travel, bank and commodity-linked stocks bearing the brunt of the selloff, as the discovery of a new and possibly vaccine-resistant coronavirus variant, spooked investors ahead of a short trading session. Of note, over the past 10 years, the day after Thanksgiving has been relatively quiet. On average, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) has opened down around 0.05% and ended the day with a 0.05% gain. Over this period, the DJI"s range on that Friday as a percentage of the prior trading day"s close has averaged only around 0.6%. As stands, the CBOE Market Volatility Index (.VIX) has popped to a more than two-month high, and CBT e-mini Dow Futures are suggesting the Dow will plunge more than 2% in the early throes of this Black-Friday session. And at more than 3%, the Dow Futures" range so far today as a percentage of Wednesday"s close is its biggest since early January. All of this is occurring in the wake of pronounced technical deterioration across the market. Click here: read more Thus, based on the futures" action, the DJI"s 50-day moving average (DMA), which ended Wednesday around 35,260, can quickly come under pressure. The Dow has not closed below this intermediate-term moving average since October 13: The DJI"s 200-DMA ended Wednesday around 34,300. The blue-chip average has not closed below this long-term moving average since July 13, 2020. A key support line resides around 34,000. Click here: read more Here is your premarket snapshot:FOR FRIDAY"S LIVE MARKETS" POSTS PRIOR TO 0900 EST/1400 GMT - CLICK HERE: read more