FED Interest Rate Hike Impacts Equity & Currency Markets; S&P 500 Futures, EUR/USD and GBP/USD Crater

The FED hikes rates today for the first time this year. The 0.25% hike cratered equity and foreign currency markets, while the dollar appreciated substantially in the hours following the news. The S&P 500 futures market hit an intraday low of 2248.25, closing down 24.72 points (-1.09%)!

One of the biggest casualties of the FED rate hike was the gold market, which dropped about $31, hitting a low of $1136 on the day. While the market has recovered somewhat in the Asian trading session, gold was the second-biggest loser in percentage terms (-2.67%).

The Japanese yen was the biggest loser of them all, dropping a whopping 2.68% against the greenback.

The EUR/USD and GBP/USD dropped 1.88% and 1.63% respectively, while the Canadian dollar lost about 1.85% against the U.S. dollar.

Categories:  British Pound , Canadian dollar , eur/usd , FED , Forex , FX , GBP/USD , Gold , Interest Rate , S&P Futures , USD/CAD , USD/JPY