dec 10  welcome to the home for realtime coverage of markets brought to you by reuters reporters you can share your thoughts with us at marketsresearchthomsonreuterscom looking at what investors really worry about it seems the pandemic is no longer the ultimate risk looming over markets deutsche banks research team did a global survey and out of 750 answers collected between december 6 and 9 found that market professionals are way more worries about rising prices than rising covid19 infections interestingly the survey shows that expectations are for covid19 to stay but that it just wont be a driving force for markets anymore as well learn how to live with it among the flurry of interesting findings were modest 42 2022 expectations sp 500 returns a us recession by 2024 and the french election not constituting a risk reasons to be bearish on equities 1135 gmt views about the direction of travel for stocks are mostly on the bulls side with expectations of a solid economic recovery and the world gradually getting off the coronavirus hook next year bofa is at the bottom of consensus forecasting a 10 downside for the stoxx 600 stoxx while the consensus expects a 6 upside bofa analysts recall that the bullish consensus lies on the views that a economic growth is likely to remain above trend b real bond yields the discount rate for equities are close to historical trough levels but thats not how bofa sees things moving forward “we expect growth to soften real bond yields to rise and credit spreads to widen implying scope for equities to reverse some of their recent gains” they say in a research note 2022 earnings will be strong but they are already priced in as “since mid2020 the rally has been driven by a 50 rebound in the 12month forward eps” they add bofa analysts believe its unlikely that 2022 earnings will provide some upside given fading global pmis meanwhile the omicron variant will likely translate into a modest economic headwind weighing on asset prices as it seems likely to result in a rapid but less deadly increase in global covid19 infections the table below shows a summary of bofa strategy views many investors are hanging on to the idea that uk equities are bound to catch up their european peers and that they just cant stay this cheap but its been a disappointing trade yet again this year and todays data wont bring any comfort with gdp up a meagre 01 instead of the 04 expected “uk growth nearly stalled in october according to new gdp data and that’s before omicron struck wrote russ mould investment director at aj bell rising energy food and general merchandise prices have put pressure on family finances so christmas may be disappointing for many retail and hospitality operators he added all in all the british economy is still 05 smaller than in february 2020 while other countries in the euro zone have now broken even but if one wanted to look on the bright side for stocks theres now clearly a sense that the old lady of threadneedle street is unlikely to hike rates next week overall the read through is that the mpc is likely to put its policy normalisation plans on ice this time investec economist philip shaw argued even before the data was released citi analysts issued a note in which they said they expected the boe to wait further till february to hike interest rates as they put it the uncertainty about the labour market which now seems to be holding up has been replaced by the pandemic and now omicron constitutes a new risk to the recovery the poor data could also contribute to weaken the position of boris johnson who will next week face a rebellion by tory mps opposed his imposition of new covid rules adding to political risk a yougov poll for the times newspaper showed johnsons conservatives had dropped 3 percentage points from dec 2 to 33 of the vote while labour rose 4 percentage points to 37 uk economy almost flatlined in october adding to rate hike doubts read more the stoxx 600 opened about 05 down with all sectors losing ground sentiment is poor after losses in asia and on wall street but on the bright side the markets still look set to be up on the week despite this mornings dip the main focus is likely to be us cpi reading later on friday the most noticeable interest point this morning among individual stocks is daimler which is down 17 as it spins off its truck unit daimler truck opened at 28 euros per share for its market debut in frankfurt ashmore fell about 35 after goldman sachs cut its guidance and its target price for the stock changes in recommendations also hit hellofresh which is losing 4 boot brand dr martens docsl is one of the fast rising stocks of the session up 45 yesterday it posted a rise in firsthalf profit and got some attention by raising the price of its famous footwear by 10 pounds 1321 due to rising costs inflationwatchers were greeted on friday by news that japans wholesale inflation had hit a record 90 in november rising for the ninth straight month the news sets the stage for the us cpi release that economists expect at 68 a level that would be the highest since 1982 some even expect a headline number with a 7handle read more  so jittery are americans about inflation that president joe biden  facing midterm elections next year  released a statement saying the data would not reflect todays reality and price rises would soon subside read more  in any case the federal reserve looks almost sure to speed up stimulus unwinding when it meets next week  all the data indicates a robust economy and tightening labour markets with thursdays weekly jobless claims sharply below predictions even the bank of japan will discuss at next weeks meeting paring pandemictime emergency funding reuters reported on friday read more  unsurprisingly economists polled by reuters predict higher bond volatility ahead though they also see 10year us yields ending 2022 around 2  barely 50 basis points higher than now read more us treasury yields are on track for their biggest weekly rise since march following three weeks of decline equity markets are reasonably buoyant  while world stocks are set for the biggest weekly gain since march european stocks are down though wall street futures are pointing north meanwhile bets on a uk rate hike next week should dwindle further after data showed a tepid 01 gdp expansion in october 04 was forecast alongside sharp falls in manufacturing and construction read more key developments that should provide more direction to markets on friday european commission announced draft rules to give drivers for firms such as uber and deliveroo employee benefits read more us cpiuniversity of michigan sentiment and inflation expectations index european futures are clearly trading in negative territory this morning losing about 06 while asia is closing its session well into the red mscis broadest index of asiapacific shares outside japan lost 08 and japans nikkei shed 1 sentiment hasnt rebounded since wall street ended thursday on a steep loss as investors banked some profits after three straight days of gains theres a lot at stake with the incoming us inflation data and what it will mean for the feds taper plans a reuters poll for the consumer price index cpi for november came in at 68 yearonyear