Asian stock markets are mixed, with Japan under-performing, as the strengthening Yen weighed on exporters and markets take a breather after recent gains.

The ECB will likely follow the BoE’s example and take a wait and see stance for now at Thursday’s meeting but falling yields may force the central bank to tweak the QE program again in September.

U.S. stock futures are higher led by a surge in Microsoft after the company reported better than expected earnings after the closing bell on Tuesday.

The BOJ is Schedule to Meet Next Week

The BOJ meets next week.  The IMF trimmed its forecast for Japan’s growth this year by 0.1%, which sounds small, and it is, but that proportionately, it is a third, so it now expected 0.2% growth.  The dollar is trading at its best level against the yen since June 24.  By the end of next month, it is possible that the RBA, RBNZ, BOJ, and BOE ease while, a September rate hike by the Fed may not be so easily ruled out.

Microsoft reported financial results that beat analysts’ expectations, as its key cloud product saw an increase in sales of more than 100%.  The technology giant reported Q4 net profits of $0.69 per share.  Revenue was reported at $22.64 billion. The results compared to $0.62 last year and revenue of $22.18 billion. Analysts expected Microsoft to report earnings of $0.58 per share on revenue of $22.15 billion.

Eurozone current account surplus narrowed in May. The Eurozone posted a current account surplus of EUR 30.8 billion in May down from EUR 36.4 billion in the previous month. The data still points to a marked widening of the current account surplus in the second quarter, thanks to a wider trade surplus.

The unadjusted financial account meanwhile showed direct and portfolio investment inflows of EUR 46.7 billion, in May, and accumulated inflows of EUR 648.1 billion in the 12 months to May 2016, compared to just EUR 247.8 billion in the 12 months to May last year. The improvement was mainly due to a marked rebound in debt investment, as Draghi managed to get EMU breakup concerns under control and bring in spreads.