Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and his colleagues are likely to turn more wary about marching interest rates higher after delivering a widely anticipated quarter percentage-point increase in December.

Prospects for slowing global economic growth, fading U.S. fiscal stimulus, and volatile financial markets all argue for more caution once officials lift rates next month near or into neutral territory, where policy neither spurs nor reins in economic activity.

Investors have already reduced bets on how many times the central bank will hike next year, partly reflecting a more dovish tone from policymakers in the past week, though a move at next month's meeting is still firmly priced with odds above 70 percent.