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 WALL STREET WEARS RED AGAIN (0955 EST/1455 GMT) Wall Street slid into the red right out of the starting gate on Friday as investors, with little or no catalysts to chew on, continued to acclimate themselves to the new normal of pending rate hikes and tapering asset purchases from the Federal Reserve. All three major U.S. stock indexes are sharply lower, with energy (.SPNY), financials (.SPSY) and materials (.SPLRCM) all vying for the title of biggest loser. Indeed, in a change from the previous trading day, value stocks (.IVX) are faring worse than growth (.IGX). The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq are on track for their third weekly decline over the last four, and the Dow has set a course for its fourth losing week in the last five. New York Federal Reserve President John Williams, in an interview on CNBC, parroted Fed Chair Jerome Powell"s Wednesday remarks that inflation and other economic data will be closely watched in the coming months for clues regarding the Fed"s taper timeline and rate hikes. read more The word "Omicron" remains on everyone"s lips as the nature and extent of this latest COVID variant is causing scientists to reconsider their 2022 expectations for the pandemic. read more Today is "Triple Witching" (nee "Quadruple Witching" until OneChicago ceased offering single stock futures in September 2020), which is the simultaneous expiration of stock options, stock index futures, and stock index options contracts which takes place once every quarter. Triple witching can cause an increase in trading volume and/or volatility. Here is your opening snapshot: Opening snapshot Opening snapshot (Stephen Culp) ***** S&P 500: ON THIN ICE? (0900 EST/1400 GMT) The S&P 500 index (.SPX) ended at a record high of 4,712.02 on December 10. It has since backed away from that level by only about 1%. Meanwhile, however, the percentage of S&P 500 stocks trading above their 50-day moving average (DMA) remains severely depressed relative to earlier in the year, when the SPX was much lower: SPX12172021 SPX12172021 This measure"s divergence vs the S&P 500 has been a problem for quite some time. In April, it peaked at 92%. More recently, in mid-November it could only hit 74%. Currently, only around 54% of SPX stocks are trading above this closely followed intermediate-term moving average. That said, recent sub-30% lows in this measure offer the potential that enough stocks within the benchmark index may have become sufficiently washed out, that there may be potential for a rotation away from the few tech titans driving the index, and a broader advance to take hold. read more There were a number of lows from the late-spring to early-fall 2019 in the 27%-31% area. In September and October 2020 there were lows at 25% and 28%. More recently, in September and November this measure stabilized at 24% and 29%. read more A push above the December high, at 63%, may lead to increasing momentum, and see this measure push up above 75%. Conversely, a fall below this week"s low, at 50%, may see downside pressure intensify, which may become increasingly difficult for the SPX to endure, especially if the recent lows give way. Of note, in the severe S&P 500 declines in late-2018 and early-2020, this measure bottomed very close to zero. (Terence Gabriel) ***** FOR FRIDAY"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.