Since it bottomed out on March 9, 2009, the S&P 500 index has surged 249 per cent. After an eight-year bull market, investors are asking whether the golden run can last.

Markets have priced in the near-certainty of the US Federal Reserve raising rates on Wednesday, with a number of key officials, including chair Janet Yellen, strongly signalling the central bank's intentions over the past few days. With concerns over Wall Street's high price-earnings trading ratios, many are expecting the Fed rate hike to drive a correction.

The Federal Reserve's meeting will follow a week that has seen massive movements in everything but equity markets. US 10-year bond yields started the week at 2.4 per cent, but surged past 2.6 per cent on Friday, a level that some have said would classify as a bull market.

The US dollar index has strengthened 4 per cent, while the prices of oil, copper gold and iron ore – all generally priced in the greenback – have plunged.

The main Brent crude oil futures contract is down 6.3 per cent since last Monday, copper shed 4.0 per cent, iron ore down 3.3 per cent and gold is down 2.3 per cent, trading below $US1200 on Friday.

On Thursday, the European Central Bank left interest rates and its quantitative easing strategy unchanged, but ECB president Mario Draghi said the urgency of its programs in propping up the European economy had lessened.

Through this all, equity markets remained calm. The S&P 500 ended the week's first four trading sessions narrowly down 0.8 per cent, while the S&P/ASX 200 closed 0.8 per cent above Monday's close.

Realised volatility in US equity markets is at its lowest point in 20 years, found a Citi analysis released on Friday. A team of equity strategists led by Robert Buckland concluded that this could largely be put down to "cheap money", made available through "aggressive monetary policy".

The Federal Reserve's interest rate decision could be what's needed to bring about a correction in equity markets, said Fat Prophets chief executive Angus Geddes.

"I think the breakout in the 10-year bond yield, and the FOMC tightening next week, will be the catalyst that brings on the long-awaited correction in the stock market," he said.

"Equity markets are tired from the Trump-led rally and are in need of a rest. And so it goes, but I think the corrective phase in stock markets will be contained and confined to no more than 5 per cent, maybe 10 per cent at an absolute stretch."

Citi's analysis made the same argument, though cautioned this wouldn't necessarily mean the end of the bull market, which it expects to continue as "CEO risk appetites rise further even as balance sheets deteriorate". Widening credit spreads are associated with increased equity volatility, which might see "a short-term correction in global equities".

The US Fed first raised interest rates in December 2015, and again in December 2016. The first rise caused a bit of a stumble in equity markets, said AMP's chief economist Shane Oliver.

But he expects the bull market to carry on through a third hike. "We could go through a bout of nervousness about it – perhaps that's what we've seen in US sharemarket in past few days, with bond yields rising, US dollar rising, and commodity prices coming off," he said.

"But the US economy remains solid, suggesting share will continue to trade higher. You might have a bit of a wobble. But I don't foresee a major setback."