Stock futures signal losses

(Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Wall Street on Monday, with futures for the S&P 500 down 0.46 percent, Dow Jones futures down 0.51 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures down 0.21 percent at 3:55 a.m. ET.

* Sovereign debt worries in the euro zone were still at the forefront of investors' minds on Monday, with the euro sinking to four-year lows while Asian and European stocks added to Friday's sell-off.

* Japan's Nikkei average <.N225> dropped 2.2 percent to a 10-week closing low as the euro zone worries chilled investor sentiment, while European shares inched lower in morning trade after losing more than 3 percent on Friday, led lower by banks such as UBS and Credit Agricole .

* Energy shares will feel the pinch of lower oil prices, with crude oil futures falling below $70 a barrel on Monday, to its lowest in more than three months, extending a loss of nearly 17 percent over the past two weeks on fears over Europe's debts, the weak euro and swollen U.S. oil inventories.

* Shares of BP regained ground on Monday, up 1.8 percent, after the energy major said it was making some progress in its efforts to contain the oil gushing forth from a ruptured well in the Gulf of Mexico.

* Financial stocks will also be in the spotlight after Britain's Prudential launched its $21 billion rights issue on Monday, finally allowing the insurer to push ahead with its acquisition of AIG's Asian insurance business.

* On the M&A front, hospital operator Universal Health Services Inc said it will buy mental health facilities operator Psychiatric Solutions Inc for about $2 billion in cash plus the assumption of about $1.1 billion of debt.

* Hedge fund firm Man Group PLC has agreed a deal to buy rival GLG Partners giving it a much needed boost in efforts to break the U.S. and creating a new giant in an industry reshaping after the financial crisis.

Man Group, already the world's largest listed hedge fund manager, said on Monday it had negotiated a recommended deal which values GLG at about $1.6 billion. The combined group will have assets of about $63 billion.

* Private equity firm Apollo Global Management is in talks to buy U.S. packaging maker Pactiv Corp in a leveraged deal, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the situation.

* Samsung Electronics <005930.KS>, the world's largest memory chip maker, is doubling its projected capital spending this year to a record $16 billion to make more chips and flat screens, turning up the heat on smaller rivals.

* On the earnings front, Lowe's and Agilent Tech feature among the companies due to report results on Monday, while on the macro side investors will keep an eye on the New York Federal Reserve's Empire State Manufacturing Survey for May, while the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo issues its May housing market index.

* U.S. stocks fell on Friday on a combination of weak earnings from retailers, Senate backing for limits on credit card fees and concerns over the sustainability of European public debt.

* The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> dropped 162.79 points, or 1.51 percent, to end at 10,620.16. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> fell 21.76 points, or 1.88 percent, to 1,135.68. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> lost 47.51 points, or 1.98 percent, to close at 2,346.85.

(Reporting by Blaise Robinson; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)