Two years after it first started raising interest rates in this cycle in December 2015, the Fed has increased rates for the fifth time, raising the Fed Funds rate another 0.25% to a target range of 1.25-1.5%. For the last two years, it has been right not to fear the Fed as tightening was conditional on better economic conditions, it would be gradual and we were only moving from very easy monetary policy to less easy.
Despite a few ructions after the first move into early last year, this has been correct as the US and global recovery has accelerated and share markets and other growth assets have performed well. The question now is where to from here? Will the Fed get more aggressive? Should investors be more concerned?