A look at the day ahead in European and global markets from

Kevin Buckland

Mega-tech earnings remain in the spotlight on Thursday,

particularly after the Bank of Japan's as-expected decision to

hold policy steady failed to give the market any new trading

cues.

Apple and Amazon, two of the so-called "Magnificent 7", will

report results to Wall Street on Thursday, picking up from Meta

and Microsoft on Wednesday, and Alphabet the day before that.

That'll leave AI darling Nvidia as the only one left to

report, although its financial statement is still three weeks

away.

Tesla got things rolling on a high note last week, exciting

investors with bold EV sales forecasts.

Alphabet kept the momentum going by beating profit and

revenue estimates on strength in YouTube ad sales and its cloud

business.

But the mood soured overnight, after Microsoft and Meta

flagged ballooning costs from AI investments, making investors

antsy about what Amazon will say on the topic.

Alphabet had also noted on Tuesday that AI expenditures

would stay high, but at that point in the week it didn't appear

to be a trend.

AI fever has driven Wall Street - and by extension many

global equity markets - to all-time peaks this year, so any

signs of weakness in the rally's foundation are sure to shake

markets.

Witness AMD's 10% plunge overnight on disappointing AI chip

sales, dragging down shares of no less than Nvidia, among other

chipmaking peers.

In Europe, bank earnings still hold centre stage, with BNP

Paribas, SocGen and ING among the lenders on deck today.

Santander's international banking conference in Madrid hosts

such speakers as Bank of Spain Governor Jose Luis Escriva and

Dutch central bank governor Klaas Knot.

Traders are looking for hints the ECB will accelerate rate

cuts, with inflation coming down faster than officials

originally anticipated.

Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel said on Wednesday that

"price stability is not far off", the same day that French

central bank chief Francois Villeroy de Galhau said victory

against excessive inflation was "in sight".

Euro-area and country-specific inflation figures are due

later in the day, along with German retail sales.

The U.S. Fed's preferred inflation measure, the PCE

deflator, is also due today, ahead of potentially pivotal

monthly payrolls figures on Friday.

The next Fed decision is one week away, and robust

macroeconomic indicators recently have pointed to a patient

approach to rate cuts - even if data this week has sent some

mixed signals.

The Bank of Japan again highlighted risks from the U.S.

economy in abstaining from raising rates today, although

policymakers expressed confidence they could continue to

normalise policy in due course.

One of the risks certain to be on their radar is the U.S.

election next Tuesday, which opinion polls still put as too

close to call despite a shift in bets towards a Donald Trump win

in financial markets and on some prediction websites.

The biggest news for many Japanese today probably came from

New York rather than Tokyo, with Shohei Ohtani helping the LA

Dodgers to a World Series victory in his first season with the

team. $700 million well spent, indeed.

Key developments that could influence markets on Thursday:

-Apple, Amazon report earnings in U.S.

-BNP Paribas, SocGen, ING report earnings in Europe

-Euro area HICP (Oct), German retail sales (Sep)

-U.S. PCE deflator (Sep)