Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged Monday morning after the Federal Reserve took surprising action before the market opened to address dislocations that have been cropping up in financial markets amid the coronavirus outbreak, which has brought to a halt business activity across the globe. The Fed on Monday morning said it would buy assets "in the amounts needed" to support smooth market functioning and effective transmission of monetary policy. The Fed had previous set a $700 billion limit for asset purchases. The news delivered a jolt to markets that were set to register another steep fall to start the week after a rescue package bill by the Senate failed in a vote on Sunday. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average YMM20 were up 636 points, or 3.2%, at 19,676 and had hit an intrasession low at 18,086, triggering a daily limit-down that prevents the index future from falling or rising more than 5% in a session. Futures for the S&P 500 index ESM20 were up 3.8% at 2,372, while those for the Nasdaq-100 NQM20 were up 4.1% at 7,247. On Friday, the Dow DJIA, -1.84% , the S&P 500 SPX, -1.15% and the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, -0.13% put in their worst weekly losses since the 2008 financial crisis.