Its revised forecast global economic growth of 3.3% is the weakest since 2009 and the lowest since the financial crisis, Bloomberg noted.

However US market futures were looking positive after yesterday's lower close, while Toronto and European indices look set to open lower.

The economic gloom has boosted the gold price which has risen above US$1,300 an ounce, trading earlier close to $1,303/oz.

Accordingly, Australian gold equities were on the rise today.

The sector was up 1.8% at the time of writing, compared with the broader metals and mining stocks on the S&P/ASX200 being down 0.48% overall.

In the US, gold major Newmont Mining (NYSE: NEM) was off slightly, down 0.16% yesterday but up 5.63% year-to-date.

Its shareholders are set to vote tomorrow on its proposed merger with Goldcorp, designed to create the world's largest gold miner.

Meanwhile EY said although M&A was not yet back at 2011 levels, it expected activity to continue to grow through 2019 amid "a general belief that the sector cannot continue to return cash and sell off assets".