Jan 3 - 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 CONTINENTAL EUROPE GETS A HEAD START OVER LONDON(0738 GMT) Today is the first day of trading of 2022 for continental Europe with London still on holidays. Futures are pointing to a day in positive territory for the likes of Paris and Frankfurt which could give the bourses on the continent a head start over UK equities which have a track record of underperformance these past few years. Wall Street futures are also making gains but all in all it"s pretty calm and Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS) are down a meagre 0.03%.