What you need2know

SPI futures down 35 pts  to 4732 at about 8.15am Sydney time

AUD flat at 70.94 US cents, 79.76 Japanese yen, 62.68 Euro cents and 49.03 British pence

On Wall St, at about 3pm New York time, S&P - 1.3% Dow -1.7%, Nasdaq -0.4%

In Europe, Stoxx 50 -3.9%, FTSE -2.4%, CAC -4.1%, DAX -2.9%

In London, Rio -3.4%, BHP -3%

European banks: SocGen -12.6%, Credit Suisse -8.4%, Barclays -7%, Deutsche -6.1%

Spot gold +4.7% or $US55.61 higher to $US1252.73 at 2.26pm New York time

Brent crude -1.8% to $US30.30; US oil -3% to $US26.62 at 2pm New York

Iron ore drops 1.1% to $US45.25 per tonne

What's on today

Local earnings: ALE Property, Greenstone, Heron Resources, IVE Group, Mesoblast.

RBA governor Glenn Stevens testimony. Housing finance. Euro GDP fourth quarter, German GDP fourth quarter as well as Portugal and Italy; US retail sales January, import price index January, US business inventories December, US Michigan February consumer sentiment. Pope Francis begins six day visit to Mexico. Earnings: Husky Energy, Coal India, Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum, Christian Dior, Renault, Commerzbank, ArcelorMittal. NY Fed chief William Dudley speaks

Currencies

Overnight Sweden's central bank was the latest to signal its ability to steer steady policy was lessening. The Riksbank cut a key rate further into negative territory as it struggles to bolster inflation and check the krona's appreciation.

Commodities

WTI for March delivery dropped $US1.24, or 4.5 per cent, to settle at $US26.21 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Total volume traded was 88 per cent higher than the 100-day average. The March-April spread widened to $US2.62 a barrel, widest gap for the front two contracts since 2011.

Oil spiked sharply higher, pushing US oil above $US27, after the energy minister from the United Arab Emirates said OPEC may cooperate to curb output, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Gold surged to its highest in a year after Sweden's central bank pushed a key rate further into negative territory. "The safe-haven seekers are moving back. We recommend clients add gold to their portfolios as insurance, if things turn out really bad, there will be much more upside," said Julius Baer analyst Carsten Menke.

Nickel tumbled 3.7 per cent to $US7590. Earlier in the session it hit a 12-year low at $US7565 a tonne. Goldman Sachs has cut its 3- and 6-month nickel price forecasts to $US8500 a tonne from $US10,000 and the 12-month forecast to $US8500 from $US11,000.

United States

US stocks fell, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average losing as much as 400 points, as investors shunned risk worldwide amid concern that central-bank efforts to support growth are losing their potency.

Equities trimmed losses, with energy stocks paring declines, after a report said OPEC is ready to cooperate on cutting production. The Nasdaq 100 Index, which earlier tumbled as much as 1.6 per cent, fluctuated in late afternoon trading. Banks led the early retreat, with Citigroup and Bank of America falling more than 6 percent.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating whether Boeing properly accounted for the costs and expected sales of two of its best known jetliners, Bloomberg report. Its shares were 7 per cent lower in late trade.

Europe

The relief rally that swept through Europe's stock markets Wednesday came to an abrupt halt, as shares slid for the eighth time in nine days and to hit their lowest levels since September 2013. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index lost 3.7 per cent at 4.38pm in London, with more than 570 of its shares slumping.

Financial results that fell below projections at Societe Generale, Rio Tinto Group and Zurich Insurance Group added to growing concern that central banks are powerless to stem a slowdown in the global economy. A slide in energy producers deepened as oil fell further.

"It's hard to remain bullish when you get washed away with every wave every day," said Patrick Spencer, equities vice chairman at Robert W. Baird & Co in London. "There's a lot of negative sentiment, credit spreads have blown out, you got worries about Deutsche Bank and CoCos, which just adds to the momentum. There's plenty of capital around but also a lot of fear. It's human emotion here."

What happened yesterday

Australian stocks ended a volatile session at the day's highs, led up by a rally in Cochlear as investors refocused on the local earnings season.

The market fell into the red during the morning session amid continuing worries about the global outlook, but in the afternoon the only way was up, with the benchmark ASX200 rising 0.9 per cent to 4821.1 while the broader All Ordinaries gained 0.9 per cent to 4870.8.