Jason Reed/Reuters
The Federal Reserve, at 2 p.m. ET, will release its policy statement and interest-rate decision after a two-day meeting. This week's meeting was the last chaired by Janet Yellen, who will be replaced by Jerome Powell.
"While many market participants don't expect a major change in Fed policy with the handoff, we think the improving growth environment and anyone not named Janet Yellen [a policy dove] means more hawkishness, at the margin," said Wells Fargo's Chris Harvey and Anna Han.
The Federal Open Market Committee is forecast to leave its benchmark interest rate unchanged in a range of 1.25%-1.50% until its meeting in March.
What to watch for instead is how the FOMC statement updates its views on the economy and inflation.
Several months after deadly weather hit the Southeastern US, the Fed could remove language referring to the economic impact of "hurricane-related disruptions and rebuilding."
In its December statement, the Fed repeated that near-term risks to the economy were "roughly balanced." That language, too, could be due for an update, according to Peter Hooper, the chief economist at Deutsche Bank.
Although inflation is still not running at the Fed's 2% target, it has stopped falling, Hooper said in a preview. Additionally, the 10-year inflation breakeven rate - one of the market-based measures of inflation that the Fed tracks - has risen to its highest level since September 2014.
"All told, the statement is likely to be in-line with the Fed's current expectation for three hikes in 2018; however, the overall tone of the statement will likely prompt market participants to begin penciling in increased odds of four hikes this year," said Neil Dutta, the head of economics at Renaissance Macro, in a preview.