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 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. (Stefano Rebaudo) ***** NASDAQ COMPOSITE: WASHED OUT OR WATERFALL? (0900 EST/1400 GMT) Amid the Nasdaq Composite"s (.IXIC) recent weakness, one measure of internal strength collapsed to its lowest level since early-April, 2020 read more : Of note, when the Composite topped on February 19, 2020, the Nasdaq New High/New Low (NH/NL) index, which had been diverging from the IXIC at that time, stalled at 76.6%. It then took the NH/NL index 17 trading days to collapse to 12.3%. In so doing, the Composite slid about 20%. From there, the NH/NL index continued down to just 1.2% over the next six trading days, while the Composite lost another 13% into its March 23 low. Recent NH/NL action is quite similar to back then. The measure diverged into its early November highs, and then from a reading of 75.7% on November 10, it fell 17-straight trading days into its December 6 low of 12.5%. However, in a testament to the market"s current bifurcated state of mega-cap haves and smaller-cap have-nots, however, the Composite only lost 5%. read more On Tuesday, the NH/NL index ticked up to 14.8%. It now remains to be seen if the Nasdaq became sufficiently washed out, that a broad recovery can take hold. This measure certainly has room to rise, and if it can reclaim its descending 10-day moving average it may add confidence in the potential for more sustained strength under the surface. A NH/NL index violation of Tuesday"s 12.5% low can open the door for a test of its March 2020 trough. With this, however, the IXIC this time, may instead find itself going over a waterfall. read more (Terence Gabriel) ***** FOR WEDNESDAY"S LIVE MARKETS" POSTS PRIOR TO 0900 EST/1400 GMT - CLICK HERE: read more Terence Gabriel is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed are his own Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.