Industrial metals were mostly higher with Aluminum up 0.52 percent but copper down 0.63 percent. Earnings reports expected on Thursday include: ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP ) is expected to report third quarter EPS of $1.39 on revenue of $12.97 billion, compared to last year's EPS of $1.44 per share on revenue of $15.09 billion. Many believe that the years of deflation Japan has suffered will keep the inflation rate at 1 percent and that the bank will need to make more policy changes in order to combat it.