The reason isn’t because a quarter-point rate increase by itself represents a stringent tightening of monetary policy. It had telegraphed the increase for a year and it was, after all, just a quarter of a percentage point. Rather, it brought to an end seven years of unprecedented monetary ease that had helped fuel a global commodity bubble. When the Federal Reserve raised rates in December, it thought the fallout would be minimal. Yet since then both the U.S. and even more so the global economies have slowed.

Source: Wall Street Journal June 15, 2016 16:33 UTC