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   In a historic move, America's central bank, the US Federal Reserve, for the first time in nearly a decade raised its key interest rate. The US Federal Reserve is also signaling that further rate hikes will likely be made slowly as the economy strengthens further and muted inflation rises. The US Fed's move ends an extraordinary 7-year period of near-zero rates that began at the depths of the 2008 financial crisis. The US Fed put interest rates near zero during the financial crisis in December 2008 to help stimulate the economy and boost the collapsed housing market. Explaining the US Fed's historic decision, Janet Yellen, the first woman Fed Chair in the bank's 112-year history, said that Fed decided to move now because it felt it was on course to hit its goals. Here are top 10 points to note: (In photo: US Federal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen; courtesy: Reuters)

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   1. The US Federal Reserve has hiked its key rate by a quarter-point to a range of 0.25 percent to 0.5 percent. Consumers and businesses could now face modestly higher rates on some loans. (In photo: US Federal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen; courtesy: Reuters)

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   2. US Federal Reserve's rate hike is seen as a sign of how much the US economy has healed since the 2007-2008 financial crisis. The central bank apparently believes the US economy is strong now and no longer needs crutches. (In photo: US Federal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen; courtesy: Reuters)

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   3. Janet Yellen said, "We decided to move at this time because we feel the conditions we set out, for a move, namely further improvement in the labour market and reasonable confidence that inflation would move back to 2 percent in the medium term, we felt these conditions had been satisfied. It's only 25 basis points. Monetary policy remains accommodative." (In photo: US Federal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen; courtesy: Reuters)

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   4. US Federal Reserve in statement said, "The Committee judges that there has been considerable improvement in labour market conditions this year, and it is reasonably that confident inflation will rise." The US Fed still has low expectations for inflation - a key measure when it decides to raise rates again. The Fed's target for inflation is 2 per cent, but right now its close to zero. The Fed sees inflation inching up in the years to come, but not hitting 2 per cent until 2018. (In photo: US Federal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen; courtesy: Reuters)

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   5. US economy is now a lot healthier with unemployment at 5 per cent, half of the 10 per cent rate it hit in 2009 during the worst of the jobs crisis. (In photo: US Federal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen; courtesy: Reuters)

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   6. Over 12 million jobs have been added since the recession ended. Wages -- which have barely grown during the recovery -- have also started to pick up recently. (In photo: US Federal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen; courtesy: Reuters)

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   7. US Federal Reserve says it has raised its economic outlook. Compared to its last forecast in September, the US Fed raised its expectations for economic growth next year to 2.4 per cent from 2.3 per cent. (In photo: US Federal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen; courtesy: Reuters)

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   8. US Federal Reserve lowered its projection for unemployment in 2016 to 4.7 per cent from 4.8 per cent. (In photo: US Federal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen; courtesy: Reuters)

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    9. Known as "liftoff," the US Federal Reserve's action is expected to be the first of more rate increases that will probably come in 2016. (In photo: US Federal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen; courtesy: Reuters)

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    10. The last rate hike by the US Federal Reserve was in June 2006 culminating a steady series of rate hikes that began two years earlier. (In photo: US Federal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen; courtesy: Reuters)