(MENAFN- ProactiveInvestors)The FTSE 100 is expected to fall quite sharply spooked by the possibility of an earlier-than-expected hike to US interest rates. The spread betters are predicting the index of blue chip stocks will fall around 50 points on open to 6149.11. Asia's major markets were trading in the red and Wall Street ended Wednesday in negative territory after comments by St Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard. He joined Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker in calling for an increase to official borrowing rates soon – possibly as early as next month. There has been a marked change of tone since the US Federal Reserve opined last week said Michael Hewson analyst at CMC Markets. 'A week ago the market was caught by surprise at how dovish the Federal Reserve was with its statement and subsequent press conference from Janet Yellen which more or less at the time put paid to any thoughts of an April rate rise' he said. 'It's taken less than a week for this narrative to reverse begging the question as to what has changed in such a short space of time to prompt such a change of tone.' If the prospect of tighter money rattled investors a tad then the fall in the crude price acted as a further dampener. Expect the big UK oil stocks to drift after a report suggested US crude stockpiles were triple their expected size at 9.4mln barrels. So with a lot of the black sticky stuff swilling around American crude prices ducked below the US$40 a barrel mark while Brent floated just above that level.