THE US Federal Reserve is widely expected to raise interest rates for the first time in over 2 years at the conclusion of its latest policy-setting meeting on Wednesday (Mar 16).

The rate hike is a symbolic end to the pandemic era of almost unlimited financial support. It also marks the end of the meme-stock party, as the Fed cuts off stock and cryptocurrency investors who had gorged on the powerful risk-encouraging cocktail of cheap credit and asset purchases served up by the central bank.

Since late last year, the yield on the 10-year Treasury note doubled to more than 2 per cent, and the high-risk Nasdaq Composite, seen as the biggest stock-market beneficiary of easy monetary policy, fell by more than 20 per cent.