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Higher interest rates make loans more expensive, crimping profit margins. Banks, however, will benefit.

Goldman Sachs was up 0.6 percent, while JPMorgan, Bank of America and Citigroup were up 0.4 percent.

The Fed has said it would raise rates when it saw a sustained recovery in the economy. While the unemployment rate has fallen to multi-year lows, inflation remains stuck below the Fed's 2 percent target.

"We expect the start of policy normalization to serve as a catalyst for normalization of the investment environment," said Mike O'Rourke, chief market strategist at Jones Trading.