Federal Reserve ends Hamlet-like indecision over interest rates

Quarter-point increase in borrowing costs signals gradual end to zero interest rate policy that has been in force for past seven years

It has been a long time coming - more than nine years in fact. The last time the Federal Reserve raised interest rates, Tony Blair was prime minister of Britain, George Bush was US president and the iPhone was still a year away from hitting the shops.

The quarter-point increase in borrowing costs could hardly be called a spur of the moment decision. On the contrary, the Fed has shown Hamlet-like indecision this year as it has weighed up the pros and cons of abandoning the zero interest rate policy that has been in force for the past seven years.

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