Dec 8 - 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 U.S. STOCKS MIXED AND MODEST (1007 EST/1507 GMT) Major U.S. indexes are mixed with just modest changes in early trade on Wednesday after Pfizer and BioNTech said a three-shot course of their COVID-19 vaccine was shown to have a neutralizing effect against the new Omicron coronavirus variant in a laboratory test. In any event, the S&P 500 (.SPX), at around 4,691, continues to flirt with the 76.4%/78.6% Fibonacci retracement zone of its November 22 to December 3 decline in the 4,685.13/4,690.61 area, while the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC), at around 15,677, is still struggling with the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement of its November 22 to December 3 decline at 15,722.821. read more A failure to overwhelm these barriers can suggest this week"s bounce may just have been a counter-reaction in what COULD still be a developing decline. Here is where markets stand in early trade: (Terence Gabriel) ***** SUPPLY CHAINS ARE GETTING A BIT BETTER (0919 EST/1419 GMT) Supply chain bottlenecks are a big issue for financial markets as they threaten to slow down the economic recovery while boosting inflation. After some analysts a few weeks ago wondered whether the worst was over, we might use some insight from Deutsche Bank. It created a ‘bottleneck monitor’ which looks at goods moved with ships, trucks, and airplanes. “The cost of shipping has started to fall, and port congestion is improving,” Deutsche Bank analysts say, mentioning their first edition of the monitor, which focuses on the U.S. “There is also a notable easing in road haulage conditions. If this improvement persists, it would have material implications for the outlook next year,” they add.