Plunge in crude oil prices send stock futures sliding

[January 15, 2016]  By Abhiram Nandakumar

(Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures were sharply lower on Friday, as oil prices dived below $30 per barrel, sending fresh tremors through financial markets globally as investors fret about a prolonged economic slowdown.

* Brent crude prices, which have fallen 20 percent this year, were down nearly 5 percent as the market braced for oil from Iran to flood an already oversupplied market.

* World stocks were set for a third straight week of losses.

* A small recovery in oil on Thursday sent U.S. stocks rallying and helped the S&P 500 to its biggest daily gain since Dec. 4 and send it past the key 1,900 level.

* 26 of the 30 Dow components trading premarket were in the red. Exxon and Chevron were down well over 2 percent, while Caterpillar dropped 3 percent.

* But the biggest drop was in Intel, tumbling 6.2 percent to $30.70 as concerns about the chipmaker's slowing data center revenue growth overshadowed a quarterly profit beat.

* Citigroup and Wells Fargo are scheduled to report before the bell, following JPMorgan's upbeat results on Thursday. Citi was down 1.4 percent at $44.75 and Wells Fargo shed 2.4 percent at $49.45.

* Investors are bracing for weak earnings reports with companies hit by plunging oil prices, concerns over China's economy and a global economic slowdown.

* A slew of economic data will give investors a bearing on the state of the U.S. economy as they await the Federal Reserve's next move on interest rates.

* Data at 8:30 a.m. ET (1330 GMT) is expected to show that U.S. retail sales were mostly unchanged in December. The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index is seen to rise in January. The preliminary report is due at 9:55 a.m.

* Meanwhile, U.S. industrial output declined marginally in December, data at 9:15 a.m. is expected to show.

* Fed policymakers have hinted at slowing the central bank's rate hike program should the economy not show signs of stability.

Futures snapshot at 6:55 a.m. ET:

* Dow e-minis were down 252 points, or 1.55 percent, with 69,026 contracts changing hands.

* S&P 500 e-minis were down 30 points, or 1.57 percent, with 328,150 contracts traded.

* Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 76.75 points, or 1.8 percent, on volume of 56,185 contracts.

(Reporting by Abhiram Nandakumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza)

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