Last checked at 
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
HOLIDAY BLUES BEGINS FOR FALLING STOXX (0820 GMT)
The pan-European STOXX 600 index is down 0.8% in early trading.
London-listed Spectris is topping the index, up 4.7% after it sold Omega Engineering and announced a £300m share buyback.
Among the biggest losers today are Adevinta down 7.6%, and CD Projekt, down 7.5%.
As signalled by earlier futures, the FTSE 100 is flat, dodging losses elsewhere in Europe where the German DAX index is down 0.5% and France's CAC 40 is down 0.6%.
Italy's FTSE MIB is losing 1.2% while Spain's IBEX is down 0.4%.
(Lucy Raitano)
KEEPING IT REAL (0727 GMT)
Bleary-eyed traders returning to work after the Easter weekend have a short, yet action-packed week ahead.
They must contend first of all with the inexorable rise in inflation-adjusted borrowing costs -- yields on 10-year U.S. inflation-linked bonds are within touching distance of turning positive for the first time in two years.
The milestone is important. What's helped equity investors stay calm even in the face of steadily rising Treasury yields is the fact that after stripping out the effects of inflation, bond yields were deep in negative territory.
But as some bond investors look forward to interest rate normality, it will be a worrying time for stock markets, especially in pockets such as Big Tech where high valuations are partially premised on rates remaining lower.
And Federal Reserve policymakers are upping the hawkish drumbeat, with St Louis Fed chief James Bullard (a known hawk) saying he did not rule out a 75 bps rate hike.
Markets have reacted by pushing the U.S. dollar above the 128 yen level for the first time in two decades. With futures now pricing more than 200 bps of Fed rate hikes by end-2022, the greenback index has surged to a new two-year highs.
Meanwhile the IMF's Spring meetings kick off later in the day. Why do we care? Two reasons. The Fund's forecasts will offer a sense of how much the war in Ukraine and COVID lockdowns across China are knocking the world economic outlook.
And the Ukraine newsflow is hardly comforting. Negotiations have turned sour, U.S.President Biden labeled Russia’s invasion a 'genocide' and Moscow has refocused its ground offensive in Ukraine's two eastern provinces.
Finally in Europe, France is in the spotlight before this weekend's second round Presidential election where latest polls suggest incumbent Emmanuel Macron has increased his lead slightly last week over the far-right's Marine Le Pen. Key developments that should provide more direction to markets on Tuesday: - Earnings: Accor, L’Oreal, Johnson& Johnson, Xerox, Halliburton, Lockheed Martin, Netflix, IBM - Central bank speaker corner: SNB's Thomas Jordan, Fed's Charles Evans - IMF releases World Economic Outlook
(Saikat Chatterjee)
EUROPEAN SHARES SET TO OPEN LOWER: (0646 GMT)
Only FTSE futures are escaping losses this morning in European markets.
Eurostoxx 50 futures, DAX futures are both down about 0.5%, while FTSE 100 futures are a fraction higher, up 0.04%.
War worries continue to weigh on markets, with Russian forces having launched their anticipated offensive in eastern Ukraine.
There were more hawkish signals from the Fed, as investors prepare for some major earnings announcements this week. Tuesday will see first quarter results from Johnson & Johnson, IBM and Netflix.
In European company news, Rolls-Royce said it was expecting UK approval for a mini nuclear reactor by mid-2024 . French music streaming platform Deezer will float in Paris through a SPAC merger valuing it at just over 1 billion euros ($1.08 billion).
Meanwhile on Friday China said it would cut the amount of cash that banks must hold as reserves for the first time this year, releasing liquidity to cushion a sharp slowdown in economic growth, and that it is closely watching inflation trends.
(Lucy Raitano)
