a look at the day ahead in european and global markets from brigid riley the wednesday hump may have passed but the week is far from over as we head into this dataheavy day with a bank of england rate decision and apple earnings topping the schedule the boe is leaning toward a 25 basis point hike after the inflation gods took some pity on the uk last month cpi now sits at a balmy 79 easing off 87 in may so will the uk join the united states and others in seeing some sustained inflation relief that remains to be seen although the latest cpi news garnered some sighs of relief the boe may still end up the last of its peer central banks battling in this global inflation brawl fed chair jerome powell isnt ready to call the job done just yet but that hasnt stopped markets from pricing in an end to the feds rate hike campaign the ecb appears positioned for a pause in september both central banks raised rates another quarter of a percentage point last month with the boe drifting away from its peers inflation still uncomfortably high and labour and wage data coming in mixed markets will be a little wary of another move like the halfpoint curve ball the central bank threw at their last meeting investors and economists will be sure to inspect the boes growth and inflation forecasts for indications of just how sticky the central bank thinks inflation has become not to be overshadowed by monetary policy earnings reports roar back into focus on thursday with apple aaplo at the forefront the iphone maker follows a parade of big tech firms to announce earnings although the company might have to wait for hype over its newest model and any signs it will enter the ai world to move consumers or give investors cheer amazoncom amzono is also sure to be on the markets watchlist on thursday while moderna mrnao looks poised to take a substantial hit as demand for covid19 vaccines dampens china kicks off a long line of pmi releases today with betterthanexpected services activity  giving markets a bit of good news after disappointing data on monday chinese real estate on the other hand was looking gloomy after shares of evergrandes property services arm 6666hk reopened following a 16month halt with a steep drop of nearly 50 hong kongs hang seng property subindex hsmpi in particular felt the pain slumping more than 1 in japan the stock market continued to feel the drag from us chip firms on thursday morning with the nikkei n225 seeing broadbased losses key developments that could influence markets on thursday 	boe monetary policy decision uk july reserves balance  apple amazon block booking holding airbnb expedia stryker cigna rollsroyce infineon adidas ag bmw 	euro zone june ppi 	germany june trade balance 	france june budget balance 	us initial jobless claims q2 productivity and labour costs june factory orders  us italy france sweden spain france germany euro zone uk july service pmi feds barkin speaks