The United States central bank is ending a stimulus program it started in 2008 during the Global Financial Crisis.
Known as quantitative easing, the program involved the US Federal Reserve buying financal assets such as government bonds and mortgage back securities and creating new money to pay for them.
At its peak, the program pumped $US85 billion a month into the financial system.
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The bank says it's confident the economic recovery in the US will continue despite a global economic slowdown.
The announcement was widely anticipated and Chief Economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch Australia, Saul Eslake says the announcement doesn't mean an end to stimulus measures.
Mr Eslake says the Fed will continue to reinvest maturing bonds and mortgage backed securities so that the overall size of its balance sheet remains unchanged.
He says the other thing to note is that US interest rates still remain at zero and the Fed has indicated that's where they were likely to remain for now even if the US labour market continues to strengthen.
"The Fed actually has two objectives, not only do they want to secure maximum sustainable levels of employment but they also actually want to see the inflation rate in the United States higher than it is at the moment," he told SBS.
"At the moment, inflation is running at about 1.4 per cent, they want to see it in line with their target which is two per cent so they won't be in any hurry to withdraw the stimulus that they're also providing through zero short term interest rates even though they are winding back the stimulus they had previously been providing through their purchases of bonds and mortgage backed securities."
Unemployment in the US has fallen to below 6 per cent and the Federal Reserve has acknowledged the recovery by something it didn't say in it latest announcement.
Analysts have pointed out that previous policy statements have referred to what the bank called "significant underutilisation of labour resources."
But the latest statement drops the word significant.
Bob Doll from Nuveen Asset Management told CNBC it amounts to the central bank recognising that fewer Americans are out of work.
"I am particulary interested in what they said about the labour market. It's pretty clear if you talk to CEOs they're having increasing trouble finding good skilled workers and so we're going to get some wage rate increases in that part of the world."
US shares were down before the Federal Reserve's announcement and continued to drop as the market digested the news.
Mr Eslake says the immediate impact on the Australian economy will be downward pressure on the Australian dollar.
"The net result as interpreted by the financial markets has been to push up the US dollar, that in turn should exert some additional downward pressure on the Australian dollar and the Reserve Bank, which wants to see the Australian dollar move lower, will be very pleased with that to the extent that it happens.
