The US Federal Reserve’s 25 basis point interest rate hike on December 16 has been welcomed by one of Goldman Sachs’ top investment bankers as closing out “the final chapter of the 2008 financial crisis”.

The Fed raised the target range for the federal funds rate by 25 basis points to 0.25-0.5% and flagged up a measured series of rate rises to come, saying in a statement that it "expects that economic conditions will evolve in a manner that will warrant only gradual increases in the federal funds rate".