Dollar made deep gains after the U.S. Federal Reserve raised its official interest rate range from 0.0-0.25% to 0.25-0.50%, the first rate hike in almost a decade. Dollar was propelled higher, with its index jumping to a two-week high at 99.0 with a 0.46% gain. Dollar advanced for the third day against the euro, hitting a nine-day high at 1.0845, with a robust 0.57% profit. Dollar rose for the fourth session against sterling to a two-week high at 1.4949, gaining 0.30%. It jumped to an eight-day high against the yen at 122.46, grabbing 0.20%.
The Fed's chair Janet Yellen emphasized in particular that future rate hikes would be gradual and slow, which cheered world stocks. U.S. Dow Jones index ended 224 points higher, brushing with a ten-day high at 17,748. NASDAQ added 75 points, or 1.52% to 5,061, while S&P 500 advanced 29 points, or 1.45% to 2,073.
Asian shares were similarly excited, with Japan's Nikkei surging 1.80% to 19,388. China's CSI300 for the biggest listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen rose 1.83%. Australia's S&P\ASX 200 index gained 1.46%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index got 0.71%. Korea's KOSPI was more muted, edging up only 0.06%.
Oil prices collapsed in the aftermath of the hike, tumbling 5.0% yesterday, and extending their losses today. U.S. crude futures gave up 12 cents, or 0.32% to $35.41 a barrel. Brent futures lost 33 cents, or 0.87% to $37.14 per barrel.
Other commodities weren't luckier, with gold futures dipping 10 dollars, or 0.94% to $1,066.70 an ounce. Silver futures slid 13 cents, or 0.95% to $14.03 an ounce. Copper lost 0.30% to trade at $2.065 per pound.
Being released today, Britain's retail sales for November, forecast to have risen 0.5% m\m, after a contraction of 0.6% in October. Core retail sales are expected to expand by 0.6%. Britain's inflation has been close to zero for half a year, but a strong period for sales is expected due to Christmas, which would be good for sterling.
From the U.S., unemployment claims for last week are forecast at 275K, lower than the previous week's 282K. The lower the claims are the better for dollar since it indicates a strong jobs market.