The Fed has announced that beginning in January, it will buy $75 billion in bonds each month, down from the $85 billion a month it had been buying since September 2012. Nearly 60 percent of the 30 investment strategists and money managers surveyed by CNNMoney believe the Fed will continue to gradually cut back on purchases throughout the year so it can completely end its quantitative easing stimulus program by the end of 2014.

One analyst, Wells Fargo & Co. Chief Portfolio Strategist Brian Jacobsen, told CNNMoney that whatever the Fed does is likely to be highly predictable. Few are expecting a major change in the Fed’s communication strategy now that Janet Yellen is leading the way.

But Yellen, whose confirmation was approved by the U.S. Senate on Monday, faces political scrutiny, Bloomberg reported. The Senate vote of 56-26 was less support than what outgoing Chairman Ben Bernanke got for his second-term confirmation in 2010.

Yellen takes over as the Fed has a $4.02 trillion balance sheet, a number made higher by the quantitative easing. The decision to buy back bonds sparked strong Republican criticism, while the bailouts of financial firms including American International Group Inc. drew criticism from some that the Fed was overstepping its authority.