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· Dow set to drop more than 200 points at the open following Wednesday’s surge

U.S. stock futures on Wednesday night pointed to a drop for stocks on Wall Street at the Thursday open.

As of 1:27 a.m. ET Thursday, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down 141 points, signalling an implied opening drop of 247.86 points at the open. S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures also pointed to declines for the two indexes at the open on Thursday.

The moves came amid a roller-coaster week for stocks on Wall Street, which saw the 30-stock Dow swinging 1,000 points or higher two times within three days. Following a Wednesday surge, the three major averages stateside moved out of correction territory, meaning they are now less than 10% down from their 52-week highs.

· Asian shares rallied for a fourth straight session on Thursday as U.S. markets swung sharply higher and another dose of central bank stimulus offered some salve for the global economic outlook.

Asian markets followed, if more cautiously. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS added 0.7%, in its fourth day of gains.

“There is little doubt that the COVID-19 outbreak will slow global growth considerably this quarter, and we expect it to actually produce a rare non-recessionary contraction in GDP,” said JPMorgan economist Joseph Lupton.

He noted the bank’s all-industry PMI measure of activity for February slumped 6.1 points, the largest one-month drop on record, and at 46.1 was at the lowest since May 2009.

· Japanese shares posted their biggest one-day percentage gain in a month on Thursday, tracking a surge on Wall Street following strong showing by Joe Biden in Democratic primaries and robust data that lifted sentiment amid a rise in coronavirus cases.

The Nikkei index ended 1.09% higher at 21,329.12, boosted by the healthcare and industrial sectors.

· Blue-chip stocks in China climbed more than 2% to seven-week highs on Thursday, as investors expected more policy support from Beijing after major central banks cut rates to soothe the economic pain of the coronavirus epidemic.

The blue-chip CSI300 index jumped 2.2%, hitting its highest level since Jan. 14. The Shanghai Composite index reached its six-week high during the afternoon session and settled 2% higher at 3,071.68.

· European shares rose for a fourth straight session on Thursday, as the action taken this week by several major central banks to ease the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on growth fed through into financial markets.

The main European equity benchmark rose 0.6% by 0813 GMT, showing steady gains for the first time since a market rout in late February.