The Federal Reserve in a "fabulous" position to raise interest rates if it wants to, thanks to the ECB's unexpected move to hold steady on its bond purchases, CNBC's Jim Cramer said Thursday.
The European Central Bank announced earlier it would continue to purchase 60 billion euros worth of bonds a month under its quantitative easing policy until at least March 2017. The move sent the U.S. dollar to a one-month low against the euro.
A strong U.S. dollar had caused headwinds for U.S. multinational companies in past months, and that could have been exacerbated by a Federal Reserve interest rate hike.
"This is [the Fed's] chance," Cramer said on"Squawk on the Street." "Here we've got the dollar getting weak. It's the window."
The ECB's latest move, which Cramer called "astounding," shocked some euro short-sellers who were expecting a sharper move, Reuters reported.
"More people were wrong about this than I've seen in a long time," Cramer said.
— Reuters contributed to this report.