AstraZeneca up after upbeat revenue forecast
SSP Group falls after H1 EBITDA miss
UK CPI due on Wednesday
FTSE 100, FTSE 250 down 0.4 each

May 21 Reuters London stocks slipped on Tuesday, tracking weakness in Asian markets as U.S. Federal Reserve officials maintained a cautious stance on inflation, while gains in AstraZeneca limited overall market declines.

The bluechip FTSE 100 fell 0.4 to 8,386 points and was set for its biggest percentage drop in more than a month. The midcap FTSE 250 also dropped 0.4.

Investor optimism waned as Fed officials on Monday hesitated to declare that inflation is on track to meet the central bank39;s target. This reticence also nudged commodity prices lower.

Traders also held back from placing big bets ahead of Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey39;s lecture at the London School of Economics, due later in the day, and domestic consumer prices CPI on Wednesday.

Markets are taking a natural pause ahead of two pretty important events Nvidia39;s results and UK CPI tomorrow, said Ben Laidler, global markets strategist at eToro.

If we get an inflation miss tomorrow, that will push back the current interest rate outlook, which has been a key ingredient for the FTSE rally, and if Nvidia misses, you39;d lose a lot of this AIled momentum, which has almost singlehandedly driven the U.S. stocks rally this year.

Nvidia, which reports quarterly results after the bell on Wednesday, is expected to influence the broader markets given the…