As it said goodbye to the man who led it through eight history-making years, the Federal Reserve did as it was expected Wednesday, voting to reduce the monthly stimulus program by another $10 billion. Chairman Ben Bernanke led his last Fed meeting as the Open Markets Committee decided to continue unwinding a program that has expanded the U.S. central bank's balance sheet to more than $4 trillion.

The unanimous decision—a rare Fed occurrence—came amid a tumultuous background of emerging market currency tremors and an uncertain though gradually improving future for the U.S. economy. Stocks have been lagging in 2014 after a blockbuster previous year, and some in the market believe adjustments to new Fed policy is part of the reason. "This is a market righting itself, trying to assess what valuations should be as the Fed begins its policy change," said Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at Prudential Annuities. At its December meeting, the Fed decided to decrease the bond buying program—quantitative easing—by $10 billion to $75 billion. Wednesday's decision takes that down another notch and lends credence to a widely held market belief that the Fed will wrap up QE by the end of 2014. The new balance will see purchases of $30 billion a month in mortgage-backed securities and $35 billion in Treasurys. "It's been obvious for a few months that the Fed wants out," Bill Gross, co-chief investment officer at bond giant Pimco, told CNBC. "What we're seeing is an end of QE in October, early November of this year, and then importantly a focus on the policy going forward."

Ben S. Bernanke, former chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve. Andrew Harrer | Bloomberg | Getty Images