NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Interest rates are going up.

The Federal Reserve raised its key interest rate by 0.25 percentage point on Wednesday. It was just the third time that the Fed has increased rates since the financial crisis.

That raises the Fed's target for short-term interest rates to a range of 0.75% and 1.00%.

The move was widely expected after last week's strong jobs report, Fed Chair Janet Yellen's comments that a rate hike was "appropriate."

A rate hike is a sign that the Fed is confident about the pace of growth in the U.S. economy. The Fed placed its key interest rate at 0% in December 2008 to resuscitate the collapsed housing market. But a little over eight years later, the U.S. economy is in much better shape and has grown, albeit slowly, since late 2009.

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