Wall Street to drop at open on global economic worries

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were set for a sharply lower open, putting equities on track to extend a three-day drop, as worries over weak economies globally continued to pressure commodities and as U.S. retail sales for December fell short of expectations.

Copper touched its lowest since July 2009 and were last down 5 percent at $5,570 a tonne after the World Bank cut its global forecast for economic growth in 2015 and next year. Shares of Freeport McMoRan Inc lost 8 percent to $19.36 before the opening bell.

Brent crude fell to a low of $45.59 before easing to trade down 0.7 percent to $46.26, while U.S. crude was off 0.9 percent at $45.49 after falling as low as $45.01. The Energy Information Administration's oil inventory report is due at 10:30 a.m. EST (1530 GMT). [O/R]

Consumer spending in December disappointed, as core retail sales fell 0.4 percent, short of expectations calling for a 0.4 percent increase and the 0.6 percent rise in the prior month.

"The futures weren?t looking too good and that retail report didn?t do it any good, it took a big nosedive after that," said Randy Frederick, managing director of trading and derivatives for Charles Schwab in Austin, Texas.

"Yesterday it was amazing because it started out so strong and ended up on a very sour note, and we just now see a continuation of that. It doesn?t look like it?s going to be a pretty day at this point."

S&P 500 e-mini futures were down 25.25 points and fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract, indicated a sharply lower open. Dow Jones industrial average e-mini futures <1YMc1> sank 237 points, and Nasdaq 100 e-mini futures dropped 41.5 points.

Adding to the pressure, JPMorgan Chase & Co fell 2.3 percent to $57.50 after the biggest U.S. bank by assets reported a 6.6 percent drop in quarterly profit. Wells Fargo & Co shed 1.8 percent to $50.90 after posting quarterly results. [ID:nL3N0UT40N] [ID:nL3N0UT46N]

Companies were expected to show fourth-quarter earnings growth of 3.7 percent from a year earlier, according to Thomson Reuters data, down from 11.2 percent growth forecast on Oct. 1.

U.S. stocks ended lower on Tuesday in a volatile session, weighed by the energy and materials sectors, giving the benchmark S&P index <.SPX> its third straight declining session and eighth drop in 10. The S&P is down 3.2 percent from its last record high on Dec. 29.

Other data showed U.S. import prices recorded their biggest drop in six years in December as the cost of petroleum plunged.

A report on business inventories was scheduled for 10 a.m.

Tesla Motors Inc dropped 9.3 percent to $185.34 before the opening bell after Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk said the company might not be profitable until 2020.

(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn and Jeffrey Benkoe)

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