The Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged at 0,25-0,50%. This is the range to which the cost of money was brought on 16 December, when the first tightening since June 2006 was announced. Up until that moment, rates had remained at an all-time low of 0-0,25% since December 2008.
Last month ended an era characterized by decidedly accommodative monetary policy as a result of the 2008-2009 financial crisis which led the Fed itself to cut rates to levels never seen before and to launch three rounds of a monetary of Treasuries and mortgage bonds called monetary easing (or quantitative easing).
The first round dates back to 2008, the second to 2010 and the third to September 2012 (the latter completed in October 2014).
