US STOCKS-Futures plummet as investors dump stocks on fears of pandemic

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* Futures drop: Dow 2.59%, S&P 2.47%, Nasdaq 2.77%

By Medha Singh
Feb 24 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures tumbled on
Monday as investors scurried to perceived safe-haven assets
after a surge in coronavirus cases outside China stoked fears of
a bigger impact to global economic growth.
Gold rose to a seven-year high and the inversion between the
3-month and 10-year Treasury yields deepened as a rise in cases
in Iran, Italy and South Korea over the weekend added to fears
of a pandemic. An inversion of the curve is a classic recession
sign. US/
Shares of interest rate-sensitive Bank of America Corp
BAC.N , Citigroup Inc C.N , JPMorgan Chase & Co JPM.N ,
Goldman Sachs GS.N , Wells Fargo & Co WFC.N and Morgan
Stanley MS.N lost between 2.1% and 3.7% in premarket trading.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was indicated to
open 700 points lower, with all its 30 blue-chip members trading
in the red premarket.
High-growth technology stocks also fell. Apple Inc APPL.O
shed 3.6% as data showed sales of smartphones in China tumbled
by more than a third in January. Chipmakers including Advanced Micro Devices Inc AMD.O ,
Micron Technology Inc MU.O and Nvidia Corp NVDA.O , which are
heavily reliant on China for revenue, slid between 6.3% and
7.2%.]
The CBOE Volatility Index .VIX , a barometer of expected
near-term stock market volatility, jumped to a six-month high.
At 7:40 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMcv1 were down 752 points,
or 2.59%. S&P 500 e-minis EScv1 were down 82.5 points, or
2.47% and Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQcv1 were down 261.75 points, or
2.77%.
Wall Street's main stock indexes had risen to record highs
last week on optimism that the global economy would be able to
snap back after an initial hit, supported by central banks.
In a bright spot, Gilead Sciences Inc GILD.O , whose
antiviral remdesivir has shown promise in monkeys infected by a
related coronavirus, rose 2.9%.