Get ready: Interest rate hikes bring good and bad (AP)

The rate hikes are coming! The rate hikes are coming!

Mark Norman Francis/GettyAs the arbiter of monetary policy for the largest economy in the world, the Federal Reserve is usually thought of as having a pretty solid grasp on all things economic.

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It was just two days ago when we observed that during the latest Fed matinee, none other than Goldman's Jan Hatzius presented a slide deck suggestively titled "Hiking Rates in the Name of Financial Stability."

More (WASHINGTON)— Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said the U.S. economy faces a number of global threats that could derail growth and compel the Fed to slow the pace of future interest rate hikes.

More (WASHINGTON)— Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said the U.S. economy faces a number of global threats that could derail growth and compel the Fed to slow the pace of future interest rate hikes.

WASHINGTON: The Federal Reserve hiked interest rates for the first time in nearly a decade on Wednesday, signaling faith that the US economy had largely overcome the wounds of the 2007-2009 financial crisis. The US central bank's policy-setting committee raised the range of its benchmark interest rate by a quarter of a per centage point to between 0.25 per cent and 0.50 per cent, ending a lengthy debate about whether the economy was strong enough to withstand higher borrowing costs.

WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen on Wednesday pointed to a possible December interest rate “liftoff” but said rates would rise only slowly from then on to nurture the U.S. economic recovery. In her first public comments since the Fed’s meeting last week Yellen laid out what now appears the base case at the U.S. central bank – that low unemployment, continued growth and faith in a coming return of inflation means the country is ready for higher interest rates.