Reuters sums up the atmosphere of pervasive uncertainty in this nifty piece:

The U.S. Federal Reserve and Bank of Japan both meet in the coming week, but far from unwinding the easy money policies embedded over the past few years to ignite economic growth both are likely to admit implicitly that the job is far from done.

That in itself should give investors pause for thought.

Does the extension of loose money allow for current investment patterns to continue, with money pouring out of cash into higher-yielding assets?

Or does it mean, as some are beginning to believe, that markets have been floating on artificial liquidity and that the underlying global economy is not in true recovery mode after all?

Precisely on point.