What happened on the 16th at around 16:00-20:00?

Looking at different charts I can see how yesterday (Thursday the 16th of March 2017) there was a huge spike in bullish behavior. And that happened in pretty much every single chart I look at. EUR/USD, AUD/USD, Gold, etc. Is this because the USD tanked? I just realised while writing that every exchnage pair I mentioned has the USD as the second part of the pair. If the Dollar did tank, was there any specific reason?

Well it might be a selloff after the Fed’s soft message about future rate hikes (increasing borrowing costs of US Dollars). Markets expected a timeframe of sharper rate increases this year but the Federal reserve stressed that they warrant only gradual tightening what in this case meant extension of monetary easing.

US FOMC announcements are key events to be aware of if you’re trading off short-term charts and especially if trading USD.