We have liftoff! The Federal Reserve embarked on a historic path of raising benchmark interest rates for the first time in 3,640 days. The U.S. central bank’s decision to hike is intended to normalize monetary policy but strategists at Bank of America Merrill Lynch led by Michael Hartnett are forecasting that aftermath of the Fed’s move could be lots of selling in 2016 as investors eschew risky bets. Here are 6 charts that illustrate some of the problems BAML foresees amid this monumental end of zero interest-rate policy: BAML says short-term interest rates, which are the most sensitive to interest-rate increases, are still at historically low levels. The following chart shows the yield on 90-day Treasury bill is still at its lowest level since the Great Depression: BAML sees global central-bank assets and reserves shrinking. Fed balance sheets—that is the ability of central banks to use their purchasing might to influence the market—has helped fuel some of the recent gains in global markets. Purchases by the European Central Bank, where Mario Draghi has overseen a bond-buying program to buck up Europe’s economy, and China’s efforts to guide the yuanCNYUSD, +0.0309% lower and help stem the fall of its stock market earlier this summer are good examples of those efforts. A “Fed hike will simply extend this backdrop…at least until stronger U.S. data signals Quantitative Success,” BAML analysts said. On the stock front, BAML points out that stock repurchases financed by corporations using cheap debt, which reached record levels in February, may taper off significantly in 2016. Goldman’s David Kostin, chief U.S. equity strategist, said corporations have been the single largest source of investments in the stock market for the past five years. BAML expects to see lower debt issuance and a pullback in corporate stock buybacks, as the following chart shows: Slumping commodities have been dogging global markets for the past year. The decline in commodities is most evident in crude-oil prices CLG6, -1.19% which were dipping below $35 a barrel on Thursday, after the Fed’s rate hike prompted a surge in the dollar DXY, -0.04% BAML sees shrinking profits from members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries like Saudi Arabia as part of a lingering problem that has yet to be really felt. BAML points out that a measure of the perceived likelihood of Saudi Arabia to default on its debts, known as credit-default swaps, are on the rise, as the chart below indicates: BAML also makes the case that the environment for this Fed rate hike isn’t ideal. The firm said “the absence of a bull market in bank stocks” and falling prices in government bonds points to a deflationary environment during a normalization of interest-rate policy. A rate increase comes as corporate profits have fallen 4% year over year, BAML said. Falling profits have been associated with weak growth in payrolls, the following BAML chart illustrates: Ultimately, BAML concludes that although the overall stock market has appeared healthy, an interest rate hike amid falling profits may be a recipe for bad news. More from MarketWatch