Forget the Fed. The Bank of Japan could deliver next week’s market shock.

The Federal Reserve may not be the only central bank capable of moving global markets next week. According to Dow Jones reporting, U.S. stock investors should look to the other side of the world for guidance, with the Bank of Japan potentially delivering the next market shock.

The BOJ has kept ultra-loose monetary policy in place long after other major central banks began tightening, making it an outlier. That stance has weakened the yen and helped fuel carry trades, in which investors borrow cheaply in Japan to fund purchases of higher-yielding assets abroad, including U.S. equities. Any hint that the BOJ is preparing to adjust policy could prompt those positions to unwind.

What to watch: the BOJ's policy statement and any changes to its yield-curve control framework, along with comments from Governor Kazuo Ueda on inflation and wage trends. A surprise shift could ripple through currency markets, bond yields, and global equities — a reminder that U.S. investors ignore overseas central banks at their own risk.