This was back when everyone bought a stock with ".com" at the end. High demand for technology companies has driven their stock prices to unsustainable levels. When investors began to realize that these companies would not be profitable, they began to sell them. Many investors have lost significant wealth in these investments. In 1997 the Fed's monetary policy called for an increase in interest from 5.5% to 6.6% in 2000. This increased the interest rate to curb inflation caused mainly by massive investments by ".com" companies . After the ".com" bubble burst in 2000, the Fed finally lowered the Fed funds rate starting in 2001 to 1.75%, after having cut it nine times. As you can see during times of inflation, the Fed Fund rate is raised to slow inflation and when it is lowered the thought process is to try to stimulate the