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 STOXX BOUNCES FROM 1-WEEK LOW European stocks are off to a positive start with the STOXX 600 (.STOXX) bouncing from from a 1-week low, although worries about possible hawkish central bank surprises and uncertainty over the Omicron variant keeping traders on the cautious side. Dealmaking peppered up the session with Vifor (VIFN.S) surging 13% after Australian biopharma giant CSL (CSX.AX) said it would buy the Swiss drugmaker for $11.7 billion. BT Group (BT.L) fell to the bottom of the STOXX after entrepreneur Patrick Drahi rised his stake in the UK telecoms firm, drawing a defensive response from the British government. Here"s your opening snapshot: snapshot snapshot (Danilo Masoni) ***** BIG APPLE (0830 GMT) A marked flattening in the U.S yield curve -- with longer-dated borrowing costs taking a tumble -- failed to lift tech shares on Monday. Instead, as the Omicron COVID variant gathered steam, consumer staples, pharmas and other defensives benefited, balking Apple of a $3 trillion market capitalisation. With Wall Street futures pointing higher, and Apple"s Frankfurt-listed shares up almost 1%, Tuesday may well be the day the milestone is hit. read more But in a week heavy with central bank meetings, data and expectations of hawkish policy turns, it"s anyone"s guess how market moves pan out. Meanwhile, the Bank of England"s dilemma -- to hike or not to hike -- hasn"t gone away. November"s payrolls increase was the biggest since tax office records began in 2014, showing labour markets have withstood the end of a furlough scheme. Online supermarket Ocado also provided a snapshot of the UK jobs market with a 3.9% fall in quarterly sales, due to labour shortages. read more But with the spread of Omicron triggering work-from-home advice and other restrictions, the BoE may well choose to hold fire on Thursday read more . Watch too for U.S. factory gate prices -- a reliable forward indicator for CPI -- out later on. Having started the year below 2%, November PPI will be above 9%, polls predict. That data is unlikely to shake conviction the Federal Reserve, starting its two-day meeting on Tuesday, will accelerate its stimulus tapering and that the dot-plot chart of rate-setters voting intentions will show a more hawkish turn compared to the last meeting. That"s keeping the dollar index at one week-highs and equity futures are higher. For now, let"s focus on emerging markets, where the rate hiking campaign continues unabated -- Hungary is expected to raise rates by 30 basis points and Chile by as much as 125 bps. read more Apple Apple Key developments that should provide more direction to markets on Tuesday: -OPEC upbeat on 2022 oil demand, says Omicron impact to be mild read more -Musk sells Tesla shares worth $906.5 million read more -Euro zone industrial production November -Germany"s Ifo Institute economic outlook -Europe earnings: Ocado, Purple Bricks (Sujata Rao) ***** EUROPE: TIMID BOUNCE BACK AHEAD (0726 GMT) Following a late reversal into negative territory yesterday on renewed Omicron jitters, European shares are expected to bounce back timidly this morning with futures pointing to gains of 0.2-0.4%. Investors are nevertheless bracing for more volatility in the coming days as they await key policy decisions by the Federal Reserve, European Central Bank and Bank of England which could signal further tightening to fight inflation. Over in Asia, concerns over the economic fallout of the new virus variant dampened risk appetite, sending shares in most markets falling, although U.S. stock index futures pointed north after declines in the previous session. read more (Danilo Masoni) ***** Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.