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 * The BOJ's decision to hold steady in the face of soft global
demand and a rise in the yen was particularly jarring for markets
after media reports ahead of the meeting said it wanted to go deeper
into negative interest rates.
* The BOJ's decision comes a day after the U.S. Federal Reserve
decided to hold steady on rates and after fears eased that the Fed
would signal a rise in June.
* While the labor market continues to gain strength, inflation
remains below the central bank's 2 percent target.
* Investors will also keep an eye on first-quarter gross domestic
product number scheduled to be released at 8:30 a.m. ET (1230 GMT).
GDP probably rose at a 0.7 percent annual rate after a 1.4 percent
pace in the fourth quarter as domestic demand cooled.
* Another piece of data is expected to show that the number of
Americans filing for unemployment benefits has risen to 260,000 last
week from 247,000 the week before.
* Economists polled by Reuters expect two rate increases this year
but futures prices show traders do not expect a hike until at least
September, according to CME Group's FedWatch tool.
* The Dow and S&P 500 closed slightly higher on Wednesday, while
Nasdaq was dragged down by poor results from Apple.
* First-quarter corporate earnings are expected to fall 6.9 percent,
according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
* Facebook shares jumped 9.4 percent to $119.15 in premarket trading
and were set to open at a record high, a day after the company's
revenue rose 50 percent.
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* Potash fell 5.6 percent to $17.20 after the company cut its 2016
profit forecast.
* St. Jude Medical soared 29 percent to $79.90 after Abbott
Laboratories said it agreed to buy the medical device maker for $25
billion. Abbott was down 4.2 percent at $42.05.
Futures snapshot at 7:03 a.m. ET:
* S&P 500 e-minis were down 15.5 points, or 0.74 percent, with
253,875 contracts traded.
* Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 23 points, or 0.52 percent, on volume
of 34,293 contracts.
* Dow e-minis were down 142 points, or 0.79 percent, with
37,662 contracts changing hands.
(Reporting by Tanya Agrawal; Editing by Don Sebastian)
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