On 16 December 2015, the Fed Chair Janet Yellen raised rates by 0.25 percent, the first increase in nine years. On the day of the rise, the Dow jumped more than 200 points to 17,700.
The Fed had been looking at four rates rises this year in 2016. If there is carnage on Wall Street, that will be quietly forgotten about. There are indications the single quarter point raise could even be reversed. Neither of Yellen’s predecessors, Alan Greenspan or Ben Bernanke, were willing to let the markets tank, and it is unlikely that Yellen will want to either if she can possibly avoid it
