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The dollar surged to a three-week high and government bond yields rose on Thursday, one day after the U.S. Federal Reserve took a more hawkish tone in its assessment of the economy as it announced the end of its six-year bond-buying program.

Global equity markets rose, as Wall Street stocks jumped in afternoon trading and European shares gained as investors were heartened by surprisingly strong third-quarter economic growth in the United States.

While the Fed’s decision to no longer add to its holdings of Treasury bonds and mortgage-backed securities, a program which at its peak pumped $85 billion a month into the financial system, investors were somewhat surprised by the central bank’s expression of confidence in the U.S. recovery, despite global growth concerns. The policy statement prompted financial markets to rethink the growing consensus that the Fed’s first interest-rate hike would not be until late in 2015.