The 10 biggest business stories on Thursday December 17

Stocks soared after the Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate; House prices to rise by 50% in 10 years; Facebook teams up with Uber

People walk into a meeting of the Board of Governors at the Federal Reserve, October 24, 2013 (Getty)

1. Stocks soared after the Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate for the first time in nine years.

2. Crude futures fell in Asian trade on Thursday, adding to sharp losses the previous session after the Federal Reserve raised rates for the first time in nearly a decade.

3. Argentina said Wednesday it will eliminate the foreign exchange restrictions that have propped up the official value of the peso since 2011, setting up a potentially painful devaluation.

4. The price of the average UK home will rise by 50 per cent in the next 10 years according to the National Association of Estate Agents and the Association of Rental Letting Agents.

5. Peppa Pig maker Entertainment One and Steven Spielberg's film company Dreamworks have partnered on a new film company called Amblin Partners.

6. Another Apple supplier is implying that the iPhone may have lower-than-expected sales in the current quarter.

7. AstraZeneca said on Thursday it had agreed to buy a 55 percent stake in privately held biotech firm Acerta Pharma for $4 billion to give it access to a new kind of drug for fighting blood cancers.

8. Facebook teams up with Uber. The social media giant said on Wednesday it is testing a service that will allow users of its Messenger app to hail Uber rides directly from the app, without leaving a conversation or downloading the ride-hailing app.

9. The UK loses £16 billion ($24 billion) a year to tax fraud, almost half of the amount of potential revenue that goes uncollected, the National Audit Office estimated.

10. The chairman of Heathrow airport Sir Nigel Rudd has announced he is stepping down in 2016. A successor has not been named.