Dow Jones Industrial Average futures lost 158 points, or 0.48%, while the S&P 500 futures fell 0.86% and Nasdaq Composite futures fell 1.5%.
U.S. central bankers broadly back two more big interest rate hikes in June and July, but what happens after is a matter of intense internal debate that turns in large part on differing views of how price pressures will play out in months ahead.
To Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic, once the Federal Reserve has delivered half-of-a-percentage point rate hikes as Chair Jerome Powell has signaled, "a pause in September might make sense."
"I think a lot of it will depend on the ground dynamics that we are starting to see" both of the inflation the Fed is trying to contain and the impact of higher interest rates on the economy, he told the Rotary Club of Atlanta on Monday.
While there is a risk the central bank may have to be more aggressive, he said, "I'm an optimist and I'm assuming inflation will have started to definitively move" lower by then.