us stock futures inched downward on thursday night as investors pondered the federal reserves ratehiking path in light of fresh commentary from central bank speakers dow jones industrial average futures fell by 11 points or 003 sp 500 and nasdaq 100 futures dipped 007 and 017 respectively the major averages are on their way to a positive week the sp 500 is up 028 while the nasdaq has a 060 gain the dow is up 057 on the week earlier thursday the dow had its best day since feb 13 closing 34173 points higher the sp 500 rose 076 and the nasdaq composite climbed 073 these gains came after atlanta federal reserve president raphael bostic said that he thinks the central bank can keep its interest rate hikes to 25 basis points rather than the halfpoint increase favored by some other officials however fed governor christopher j waller struck a tougher tone in his comments to the midsize bank coalition of america raising the possibility of a higher terminal rate if inflation numbers dont cool he referred to januarys big payrolls report which showed the economy added 517000 jobs as well as the latest reading from the consumer price index and personal consumption expenditures reports if those data reports continue to come in too hot the policy target range will have to be raised this year even more to ensure that we do not lose the momentum that was in place before the data for january were released waller said the road ahead is a tough one for the central bank regardless of the messaging theyre relaying to the public no matter how slow the fed goes no matter how much they communicate what they want to do there is no avoiding the potholes of reversing extraordinary easing bleakley advisory group chief investment officer peter boockvar wrote in a note when markets and the economy have been addicted and medicated for so long on low rates and qe there will never be the right time to ease up he said