Stocks in London were higher on Friday, as the market eagerly awaited a critical US inflation print.The FTSE 100 index was up 27.47 points, or 0.3%, at 8,407.11. The FTSE 250 was up 59.36 points, or 0.3%, at 21,090.44, and the AIM All-Share was virtually unchanged at 772.41.The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.3% at 840.52, the Cboe UK 250 was up 0.2% at 18,563.70, and the Cboe Small Companies was down 0.1% a

Market confidence that the US Federal Reserve next week would begin to slow the pace of its interest rate hikes was shredded by a fresh indication of a hot economy, sending stock markets lower on Tuesday and widening US Treasury yields.'We're very much in looking-glass territory again with investors desperate for the Fed to ease up on rate hikes and therefore taking any bit of good news about the

European equities were marginally lower on Wednesday as they awaited news from the US midterm elections and, perhaps more consequentially, anticipated a US inflation reading due on Thursday.The FTSE 100 index closed down 9.89 points, 0.1%, at 7,296.25. The FTSE 250 ended down 48.89, 0.3%, at 18,649.00 and the AIM All-Share closed down 4.78 points, 0.6%, at 826.35.The Cboe UK 100 ended down 0.2% at