Changes in interest rates help the Fed to control the stock market a little. When interest rates are raised, stocks become a little less attractive to investors and so some money is pulled out of the stock market, which keeps it from soaring more. When the market is experiencing a bear market (a decline of 20% or more), the Fed might decide to lower interest rates which sparks investors' interests and the market usually rises a little.

So as you can see, the raising and lowering of interest rates can help keep the stock market within a trading range, the range between the highs and lows of the stock market that it trades in during a certain period of time.

But many times the stock market actually declines before interest rates rise. This is usually attributed to interest rate worries. Usually, a couple weeks before the Federal Reserve meets to decide on interest rates, the media starts giving their two cents on what they think the Federal Reserve will do. This media "hype" starts to make investors nervous and also builds uncertainty. The period right before the interest rate hike is usually filled by investors selling to try and get out before the small decline comes.

Uncertainty is often bad for investors because when investors are uncertain about how the economy is doing, they usually invest less. Also, the average American spends less during this time period which hurts certain stocks.

One of the industry's that is hurt the most is the retail industry. Retail companies are those that sell relatively small amounts of goods to the consumers. They are hurt by interest rates because when investors are less confident about the stock market, they tend to spend less money. Retail companies definitely want you to spend more money because that is where their income comes from. This decreased spending hurts these companies' performances and make their stocks less attractive to investors in the short term so they usually experience dips.

So what do these interest rate worries mean to the average Buck Investor who invests for the long-term? Not a whole lot, because these dips and rises just affect the short-term and really don't play a role on how the economy will be doing in twenty or thirty years. Historically, buying on these small dips have helped investors' gains over the long-term so if you want to invest a little extra money during these dips, you might be able to give your portfolio a small boost.