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Minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee meeting earlier this month show the committee remains "typically noncommittal" about a rate hike in March, according to NAFCU Chief Economist and Director of Research Curt Long.

"There was plenty to chew on for both hawks and doves, and with some significant data releases due before the committee's next meeting, it is likely that the committee itself is unsure about which direction it is leaning," Long said. "The most likely scenario for the March meeting is that the committee will hold off on a rate hike with some of the more hawkish members objecting, thereby setting the stage for a rate increase in the second quarter."

At the February meeting, the FOMC left the federal funds target rate and monetary policy unchanged. The meeting was the committee's first since it voted in December to raise rates to the range of 0.5 to 0.75 percent.

As of December, the committee's revised projections for the coming years included three quarter-point rate hikes in 2017, three in 2018 and three in 2019.