LIKE a reluctant sheriff in a Western belatedly challenging the baddies to a gunfight, United States Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has set global markets up for a bloodbath with his sudden resolve to attack inflation.

Bullets are likely to fly around stock and bond markets as the Fed looks set to make its most aggressive rate move in two decades on Wednesday.

The Fed has already signalled that it’s ready to shoot with both barrels: Powell and other officials have hinted they will boost rates by a super-sized half-a-percentage-point at the Federal Open Market Committee meeting.