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

U.S. STOCKS SMELT SOME GAINS IN EARLY TRADE

Wall Street's main indexes are higher early on Monday, recovering from last week's declines, as steelmakers surge after U.S. President Donald Trump said he would impose additional tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.

The VanEck Steel ETF SLX.P is advancing around 3%, and on track for its biggest daily gain since November 6.

A majority of S&P 500 sectors .SPX are higher with energy .SPNY, and tech .SPLRCT, both up more than 1%, leading gains.

Healthcare .SPXHC, real estate .SPLRCR and financials .SPSY, are among the losers. Banks .SPXBK, .KRX are on the weak side.

U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is due to testify before Congress on Tuesday and Wednesday. The January consumer price index is expected to be released ahead of the opening bell on Wednesday, before Powell's testimony on the same day.

Regarding the coming inflation data, Jay Woods, chief global strategist at Freedom Capital Markets is noting that the CPI has trended slightly higher since the Fed started to cut rates.

"Let’s see if that trend stabilizes now seeing the Fed did not act at its recent meeting," writes Woods in his weekly market letter.

He adds that "Recent statements from Federal Reserve officials continue to echo a cautious approach. Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari made news last week when he noted that the policy rate could be 'modestly' lower by the end of 2025, contingent on continued cooling inflation and a strong labor market."

Last week, unemployment surprised by ticking lower, and Woods thinks that if CPI can do the same then expect rate cut talk to percolate as this could be the start of “modestly” lower numbers.

Here is an early market snapshot:

(Terence Gabriel)

*****

FOR MONDAY'S EARLIER LIVE MARKETS POSTS:

SPOT GOLD'S HEART IS FAR FROM COLD - CLICK HERE

ASSESSING THE MARKET IMPACT OF A POSSIBLE UKRAINE CEASEFIRE - CLICK HERE

BANKS: NEXT STOP - SEPTEMBER 2008 HIGHS - CLICK HERE

TRUMP CHINA PLANS A POSITIVE FOR EUROPE DISCOUNT RETAILERS - CLICK HERE

EUROPE IN THE GREEN, BP TOP GAINER - CLICK HERE

EUROPE BEFORE THE BELL: SHRUGGING OFF TARIFF TALK - CLICK HERE

ALL TARIFFS, ALL THE TIME - CLICK HERE