Stock futures lower on global growth worries

[January 05, 2016]  By Abhiram Nandakumar

(Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures were lower on Tuesday, a day after weak Chinese economic data rekindled fears of a global slowdown and sparked a sharp selloff.

* The slide prompted a near-$20 billion injection by the People's Bank of China to stabilize markets. Chinese stock indexes were little changed on Tuesday after falling 7 percent on Monday.

* Global stocks were down but off the lows they hit in the previous session.

* Crude oil was lower as investors fretted about the state of the Chinese economy and a stronger dollar. [O/R]

* U.S. stocks closed sharply lower on Monday, with the Dow making its worst start to a year since 2008. Weak U.S. factory data also added to the worries.

* U.S. automakers are scheduled to report December sales figures on Tuesday, with estimates pointing to a decline to 18.10 million units from 18.19 million units in November.

* Dupont's shares were down 1.5 percent at $62.10 in premarket trading after Citigroup cut its rating on the Dow component to "neutral".

* Microsoft was down 0.8 percent at $54.38 as a Chinese regulator sought explanations from the software maker on findings from an anti-trust probe.

* Royal Caribbean was down 1.4 percent at $96.80 after Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock to "equal weight".

* Eli Lilly was down 2.2 percent at $81.05 after it set profit and revenue forecasts for 2016.

Futures snapshot at 6:54 a.m. ET:

* Dow e-minis were down 113 points, or 0.66 percent, with 38,787 contracts changing hands.

* S&P 500 e-minis were down 13 points, or 0.65 percent, with 195,236 contracts traded.

* Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 29 points, or 0.64 percent, on volume of 35,038 contracts.

(Reporting by Abhiram Nandakumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)
 

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