a look at the day ahead in markets from sujata rao the fed hasnt yet started raising interest rates and in the euro zone higher rates are likely many months away but markets have started doing the central banks jobs for them  an index of financial conditions compiled by goldman sachs is around the tightest since may 2020 look at the metrics feeding into such indexes  since the start of this year oil prices government borrowing costs and yield premia on corporate debt have all risen  merc0a0 with markets pricing rate rises ahead world stocks are down 6 how financial conditions behave inevitably impact the spending saving and investment plans of businesses and households so the more conditions tighten now the less central banks may need to do later jpmorgan analysts reckon therefore a 25 basispoint rate hike is what the federal reserve will deliver next month rather than the 50 bps that is priced still analysts advice to keep buying equities is finding few takers wall street slipped again on monday on fears that diplomacy may fail to prevent a russian invasion of ukraine in fact positioning on nasdaq 100 futures is the most extended net short ever seen according to citi so all eyes on tuesdays meeting between german chancellor olaf scholz and russian president vladimir putin read more  before news emerges from that meeting nervous traders are selling stocks and buying gold and government bonds economies seem to be chugging along in the meantime  japans q4 gdp expanded at an annualised 54 while british unemployment stayed at 41 in late2021 read more yet uk workers earnings fell by 08 when adjusted for inflation meaning the bank of england will stay on the case with rate hikes in coming months key developments that should provide more direction to markets on tuesday glencore sells stake in russias russneft to cap 20year partnership read more australias central bank has goals in sight just waiting on wages read more