--the first rate hike of that magnitude in more than two decades -- investors should brace for more of this medicine, the central bank's meeting minutes showed Wednesday. Rate changes have traditionally been in quarter-percentage-point increments.

"Most participants judged that 50 basis point increases in the target range would likely be appropriate at the next couple of meetings," according to minutes from the early May meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, the Fed's policymaking arm.

"We're going to have two consecutive 50 basis point hikes over the next few meetings. If it's less, the market will think the Fed doesn't take [the economic situation and high inflation] seriously. If it's more, [the market] will think it's worse than we thought," said David Rubenstein, co-founder and co-chairman of the Carlyle Group, during a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos earlier this week.

That said, the minutes made the Fed appear even more hawkish in the context of the past week, according to Thomas Simons, money market economist at Jefferies. Financial markets have witnessed some turbulence since the Fed meeting at the start of the month, and certain economic data -- including consumer sentiment -- was weaker than expected.