Fed chair Janet Yellen: Rate hike marks 'end of an extraordinary 7-year period'

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said Wednesday the Fed's first rate increase since 2006 marks the "end of an extraordinary seven-year period" of easy-money policy begun in the Great Recession.

But Yellen stressed that it was "important not to overblow the significance" of the quarter-point rate increase, saying Fed policy will remain accommodative over the medium term.