The Federal Reserve Bank Open Market Committee raised its benchmark lending rate this week, a highly anticipated move, by a quarter percent to a target range of 0.75%-1.00%.  The domestic monetary policy authority has yet to indicate any deviation from its previously relayed path for interest rates.  Market expectation is currently two more hikes in 2017.

In Europe many central banks including Norway, Switzerland and the United Kingdom held policy meetings with each leaving key interest rates unchanged at depressed levels.

The Bank of Japan concluded its two day monetary policy meeting this week also leaving rates unchanged further adding to the divergence of foreign and domestic central banks.

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