US pre-open: China fallout to hit markets state-side

US stock futures were set to plunge again on Thursday as the fallout from China’s week of losses continued.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was expected to open down around 358 points, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were set to begin the session 43 and 123 points lower, respectively.

All eyes will be on the US jobless claims numbers out at 1330 GMT, as well as speeches today from the Richmond Fed’s Jeffrey M. Lacker and the Chicago Fed’s Charles Evans.

China’s shortest trading day

Elsewhere, jitters about China turned into entirely justified fear in Asia on Thursday, as China's stock markets had their shortest trading day in history.

For the second time this week - and, in fact, the second time ever - China's new 'circuit-breaker' kicked in and froze trading just 30 minutes after the open.

The Shanghai Composite Index finished down 7.04% after the half-hour trading day, at 3,125. Its losses over the last four days now come to 11.7%, and could see the biggest weekly loss since the peak of the summer crash on 21 August 2015.

It was thought that the weakening of the yuan in the morning first triggered the losses, which then spread like wildfire across the region. Traders and analysts remained concerned about a weaker yuan causing capital flight, and a knock-on effect of currency depreciation in other Asian countries.

"People outside of China just go 'woah', and think the rest of the region should be bombing out as well", said Parry International Trading managing director Gavin Parry, saying China's Thursday losses set off a "contagion effect in sentiment".

European stocks followed suit on China’s woes and falling oil prices despite encouraging regional data out.

Oil prices continued to plummet, with Brent down 3.74% to $32.95 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate down 4.06% to $32.59.

The dollar was up against the pound, rising 0.51%, while it dropped 0.68% against the euro and 0.76% against the yen. Spot gold was up 0.60% to $1,098.40.

In company news, Macy’s was up 1.8% before the bell after the major US retailer outlined plans to cut $400m in annual costs through store closures and thousands of job cuts.

Yahoo fell on the back on a report from Business Insider that it plans to cut at least 10% of its staff to curb costs.

Apple also took a hit, down just under 3% as questions are asked about reports that iPhone 6S and 6S Plus production levels are being cut.