S&P 500, DJI edge up, Nasdaq slips; chips gain, FANGs fall U.S. Nov pending home sales MM < estimate Staples lead S&P 500 sector gainers; energy weakest group Euro STOXX 600 index off ~0.2% Dollar, gold, crude dip; bitcoin rises Dec 29 - 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 AMID TRICKLING VOLUME, U.S. STOCKS SUBDUED IN EARLY TRADE (1007 EST/1507 GMT) Wall Street"s main indexes are little changed early Wednesday amid thin trading volumes, as caution kicked in after daily U.S. COVID-19 infections hit a record high. Indeed, Monday and Tuesday of this week registered the two slowest volume days of 2021. And with total volume so far this week now just over 17 billion shares, the pace suggests this could potentially end up being the slowest weekly share turnover since the week ending February 21, 2020, when just 31.5 billion shares changed hands. In any event, one mover today is the U.S. 10-Year Treasury yield . Earlier, the yield hit a three-week high at 1.5310%. Here is where markets stand in early trade: earlytrade12292021 earlytrade12292021 (Terence Gabriel) ***** DOW INDUSTRIALS: SIX STRAIGHT OR SINK? (0900 EST/1400 GMT) The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) has now risen five straight days. That"s its longest streak of higher daily closes since a seven-day run from March 5 to March 15 of this year. That said, with CBT e-mini Dow Futures roughly flat in premarket trade, traders will have to wait to see on which side of the fence momentum will land. On Tuesday, the blue-chip average flirted with its 36,432.22 Nov. 8 record close and its 36,565.73 Nov. 8 record intraday high. The DJI hit 36,527.26 before selling back to end at 36,398.21: DJI12292021 DJI12292021 Since once again using the broken log-scale resistance line from 1929 as a launching pad in early December, and then the 200-day moving average (DMA) as support on December 20, a push to new highs can likely clear the way back up to the resistance line from early 2018, which now resides around 37,050. This line remains an important barrier given that it capped strength in early November. Overwhelming it, however, would suggest potential for the 39,000 area in Q1 2022, if indeed, the S&P 500 (.SPX) more directly challenges its log-scale resistance line from 1929. Click here: read more In any event, given the streak, and resistance at the Dow"s record highs, some pullback would not be a surprise. However, the rising 50-DMA, which ended Tuesday around 35,675, can look to contain weakness. A DJI reversal below more significant support ranging from the 200-DMA, which ended Tuesday around 34,710, to the Dec. 1 trough at 34,006.98, however, will have the potential to signal a major trend change. (Terence Gabriel) ***** FOR WEDNESDAY"S LIVE MARKETS" POSTS PRIOR TO 0900 EST/1400 GMT - CLICK HERE: read more