Stock futures sink as oil rout shows no signs of abating

[January 20, 2016]  By Tanya Agrawal

(Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures fell sharply on Wednesday, tracking global markets, as crude oil prices tumbled to new lows and fears of slowing global growth continued to gnaw at investors.

* U.S. crude wallowed at its lowest since 2003 and Brent crude fell to near 12-year lows. The IEA, the world's energy watchdog, warned the market could "drown in oversupply."

* European stocks slid to their lowest since October 2014 and were set for biggest fall of the year so far, while Japan's Nikkei slid into bear market territory.

* The U.S. market has been roiled this year due to slumping oil prices and weak economic data out of China, the world's second-largest economy and a key market for major U.S. companies.

* The S&P 500 has fallen 8 percent so far this year, wiping off more than $1.4 trillion, while global markets have lost $4.2 trillion, according to Thomson Reuters data.

* Still, the S&P currently trades at 14.9 times forward earnings, slightly higher than its 10-year median of 14.7, according to Thomson Reuters StarMine.

* Concerns regarding the state of the global economy has taken some attention away from fourth-quarter U.S. corporate earnings, which is expected to fall 4.4 percent.

* Shares of IBM were down 4.6 percent at $122.25 premarket after the tech major forecast weak earnings.

* Apple and Microsoft were also down about 2 percent.

* Netflix was up 3.8 percent at $112 after its subscriber base grew more-than-expected.

* Data due on Wednesday includes core Consumer Price Index, which excludes food and energy. The index likely gained 0.2 percent in December, unchanged from November. The data is expected at 8:30 a.m. ET (13:30 GMT).

Futures snapshot at 7:10 a.m. ET:

* Dow e-minis were down 314 points, or 1.97 percent, with 67,005 contracts changing hands.

* S&P 500 e-minis were down 36.5 points, or 1.95 percent, with 402,238 contracts traded.

* Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 88 points, or 2.12 percent, on volume of 72,588 contracts.

(Reporting by Tanya Agrawal; additional reporting by Abhiram Nandakumar and Thyagaraju Adinarayan; Editing by Savio D'Souza)

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