Underwhelming corporate news on both sides of the Atlantic saw the FTSE 100 get off to a sluggish start on Friday.
AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould said: “For now investors appear to have shrugged off a long list of concerns taking in Chinese property, inflation, Covid, a fully blown supply chain crisis and an increase in interest rates, largely climbing this wall of worry in recent weeks.
“The next key test of the market’s mountaineering skills could come next Wednesday as the US Federal Reserve is widely expected to begin tapering its financial stimulus and the Bank of England potentially looking to raise rates.
“Those with memories of the taper tantrum sparked by former Fed chair Ben Bernanke’s decision to start scaling back support for the economy in 2013 may be eyeing the first date with some trepidation.
“However, the Fed has done a better job this time of trailing its move well in advance so investors can’t claim they weren’t forewarned.”
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