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 OMICRON! WHAT OMICRON? (0743 GMT) That broadly seems to be the tone in global markets on Tuesday as investors ramped up bets that the new Omicron variant may not prove to be as deadly as previously feared. World stocks are on track for their biggest daily rise in nearly two months, money markets are back to pricing the U.S. rate hike by June 2022 and the dollar has clawed back half of its losses against the perceived safe-haven Japanese yen since the variant first hit the headlines. Even policymakers are optimistic. Australia’s central bank indicated the Omicron variant outbreak was unlikely to derail the current financial recovery while top U.S. infectious disease official Anthony Fauci told CNN, "it does not look like there"s a great degree of severity" so far. read more More good news also came from Beijing which cut the amount of cash that banks must hold in reserve on Monday, its second such move this year, releasing about $188 billion funds in long-term liquidity to bolster slowing economic growth. Though questions remain over the future of China Evergrande Group (3333.HK) with a number of bondholders in the heavily indebted property developer saying they did not receive coupon payments by the end of a 30-day grace period on Monday New York time. Investors pushed European and U.S. stock futures higher, expecting the broader economic recovery won’t get derailed in 2022. Expectations that global central banks won’t rush to tighten policy immediately propped up Chinese shares and boosted the Australian dollar. Indeed, JPMorgan’s strategists postponed their call for the first UK interest rate hike to February from December earlier despite robust labour market data. Market gauges of volatility also slipped back with both European and U.S. gauges well below last week’s highs. Oil prices ticked higher, consolidating a nearly 5% rebound the day before and cryptocurrencies resumed picking up the pieces after a bruising fall over the weekend. Can central banks calm volatile markets? Can central banks calm volatile markets? Key developments that should provide more direction to markets on Tuesday: Speaker corner: ECB"s Lagarde, Guindos, Schnabel Germany ZEW survey Eurozone revised Q3 GDP U.S. trade balance Chile inflation data (Saikat Chatterjee) ***** EUROPE: REBOUND GATHERING STEAM (0724 GMT) European shares look set for a second straight day of solid gains with index futures rising almost 1% and investors pointing to easing worries over the Omicron virus variant. Over in Asia, shares recovered on the receding virus worries but also supported by a policy easing move by China"s central bank in a bid to bolster slowing economic growth. read more U.S. stock futures also pointed to another strong session later on Wall Street after yesterday"s positive close. It seems investors have been reassured by top U.S. infectious disease official Anthony Fauci who, speaking about Omicron, told CNN that "thus far it does not look like there"s a great degree of severity to it." read more (Danilo Masoni) ***** Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.