European stocks were expected to open higher on Friday after a selloff of equities in Asia overnight followed a disastrous day for European and US markets on Thursday, with shares in all of Europe's major indexes falling by as much as 5 percent.
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London's FTSE is called 41 points higher; Germany's DAX is predicted to be up by 60 points, while the CAC 40 in France is called 40 points higher.
There was some encouraging news ahead of the European open early on Friday as US Dow futures were seen 104 points higher and the Australian ASX 200 exchange rallied 1.8 percent from session lows. However, South Korea's KOSPI index continued to languish around 4.4 percent lower after plummeting by 4.8 percent earlier in the trading day.
A plethora of bad news throughout the day on Thursday ensured indexes in Europe, the US and Asia were all hit.
Disappointing manufacturing data from China, showing a slowdown for a third successive month due to shrinking demand in Europe and Asia impacted European stocks and worse than expected PMI data out of Germany fuelled concerns that Europe's 'powerhouse' is losing momentum.
IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde and World Bank President Robert Zoellick warned separately that situation for the global economy was "dangerous", combining to sour market sentiment further ahead annual meetings in Washington DC.
Leaders from Australia, Canada, Mexico, South Africa, Britain and South Korea wrote to French President Nicholas Sarkozy urging a swift solution to the problem of sovereign debt within the euro zone expressing persistent fears of contagion, while officials from the BRIC nations said they would consider giving more money to the IMF.
All eyes will be firmly on Washington on Friday as the World Bank and IMF annual meetings get underway and G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meet in the US capital to flesh out a firm plan for the global recovery which will be submitted to G20 heads of states ahead of their November 4 summit in Cannes.
A press conference will take place at 1:00 pm London time with German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble and Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann speaking from Washington.
Economic data out on Friday includes business confidence survey data from France at 7:45 London time, followed by Spanish PPI data at 8:00. In the UK, the British Bankers' Association banking statistics for August will be available from 9:30.