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“The FTSE 100 is heading into the weekend on a bum note and there’s a culprit which is becoming wearily familiar to investors in the past few weeks – namely the creeping fear of inflation and the implication that has for interest rates,” says AJ Bell Investment Director Russ Mould.
“Seemingly the chair of the US Federal Reserve Jay Powell wasn’t sufficiently soothing to calm those concerns in his latest missive to the markets and this helped skittle Asian and US stocks overnight as US Treasury yields hit new highs.
“The surge in oil prices following the surprise decision of producers’ cartel OPEC and its partners not to increase supply will have done little to stem the mounting alarm over rising prices.
“We might be in a situation where the market is hoping for a weak US jobs number later as this would help make the case for a loose monetary policy to be retained and perhaps calm fears of the world’s largest economy overheating.
“Back home the breadth and depth of the UK market continues to be chipped away at. After Renishaw put itself up for sale earlier this week, emergency power provider Aggreko confirmed its surrender to private equity today.
“It’s little wonder there are plans to shake up London’s listing rules as a way of bringing in fresh, exciting new companies to replace the ones which are being gradually picked off.”
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