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 MODESTLY RED IN EARLY TRADE (1003 EST/1503 GMT) Wall Street"s main indexes are modestly red in early trade on Thursday after logging three straight days of gains. With the U.S. 10-Year Treasury yield coming back under the 1.50% level, small caps (.RUT) are among weaker indexes. That said, with communication services (.SPLRCL) and tech (.SPLRCT) roughly flat, the NYSE FANG+TM index (.NYFANG) is posting a rise, and outperforming. In any event, the S&P 500 (.SPX) is only around 0.3% shy of its November 18 record close of 4,704.54. All eyes are now on consumer prices index data due on Friday. A hotter-than-expected reading could strengthen the case for aggressive policy tightening ahead of the U.S. central bank"s meeting next week. Here is where markets stand in early trade: (Terence Gabriel) ***** NASDAQ 100: BACK ON TRACK? (0900 EST/1400 GMT) The Nasdaq 100 (.NDX) has roared back this week. In fact, this index of the one hundred largest non-financial companies on the Nasdaq is on track for its best week since early February. This strength is coming just one week after the NDX suffered a one-week slide of as much as 7.3%, and once again flirted with its rising 20-week moving average (WMA): Since being reclaimed in mid-April 2020, the 20-WMA has been proving to be a resilient support for the NDX. Over this period, and despite a number of intraweek violations, the NDX has only ended below it once, in the week ending October 30, 2020. The index finished just 0.1% below this longer-term moving average that week before then immediately vaulting higher the following week. As a result, the moving average"s one-week rate-of-change did not turn negative at that time. In fact, the 20-WMA has now not ticked down for 87-straight weeks, which is its longest such run since a 126-week streak from May 2016 to October 2018. In any event, since mid-April 2020, all tests of the 20-WMA have ultimately led to higher peaks and troughs, as the NDX has steadily made new highs. It now remains to be seen if this most recent flirtation with the 20-WMA will lead to new highs, but the NDX ended Wednesday only a little over 1% from its November 19 record close, and only about 3% from its November 22 record intraday peak. CME e-mini Nasdaq 100 futures are down modestly ahead of Thursday"s open. A more decisive closing break of the 20-WMA than was seen in late-October 2020, with the moving average then ticking down, could signal a sea change in trend. read more (Terence Gabriel) ***** FOR THURSDAY"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.