Watch Cashin: Predictable market reaction to Fed

Art Cashin, UBS director of floor operations at the NYSE, said the stock market has acted in typical fashion going in to and following the Federal Reserve's Wednesday policy statement in which the Fed announced the end of its quantitative easing, or stimulus, program.

According to the New York Federal Reserve, data over the past two decades show stocks usually rise into Fed statements, beginning the day before, then fall after the statement is released at 2 p.m. EDT before rebounding to about where they were right before the statement came out.

To be sure, major averages were negative Wednesday before the statement; however, Tuesday and the time following Wednesday's statement coincided with the trend. Stocks gained Tuesday, fell after the statement, then recovered.

"A lot of people are trying to pick up that this [statement] is a bit more hawkish," Cashin said. "I would say it's a lot less dovish, but I don't see it as quite hawkish."

A hawkish stance implies tighter monetary policy while a dovish approaches signals looser monetary policy.

The Fed added new, upbeat commentary about the U.S. economy to its statement, highlighting "solid job gains and a lower unemployment rate" and a diminishing of "underutilization of labor resources." It also made no mention of slowing global growth abroad.

Rosier comments about the economy caused some market observers to interpret the statement as more hawkish, contributing to the initial drop in stocks.

"I personally believe there's still a great likelihood that you won't see a rate hike through the entire 2015 year," Cashin said.

The Fed kept a key phrase in its policy statement that said it will not raise the Federal Funds Rates until a "considerable time" after it completes quantitative easing. That signals, even with an improving economy, the Fed likely will not up rates until next year.