US STOCKS-Index futures drop on worries from Japan disaster

                                

                                
 * Japanese equities slump, European shares steady
                                
 * General Electric falls premarket
                                
 * Futures down: S&P 7 pts, Dow 64 pts, Nasdaq 22.25 pts  
                                
 * For up-to-the-minute market news see [STXNEWS/US]
                                
 NEW YORK, March 14 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures
fell on Monday as investors worried about the impact of Japan's
devastating earthquake and tsunami.
                                
 A second hydrogen explosion rocked a stricken nuclear power
plant in Japan, sending authorities scrambling to avert a
meltdown. For details, see [ID:nL3E7EC0D6]
                                
 Japanese stocks fell 6.2 percent as investors expected the
disaster to take an economic toll. Trading in other markets was
cautious but steady. The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 <.FTEU3>
was off 0.6 percent.
                                
 "The earthquake could have great implications on the global
economic front," said Andre Bakhos, director of market
analytics at Lek Securities in New York. "If you shut down
Japan, there could be a global recession."
                                
 Among companies expected to be affected the most were those
with exposure to Japan and the nuclear industry. General
Electric Co <GE.N>, which has combined nuclear ventures with
Hitachi Ltd <6501.T> of Japan, fell 2.8 percent to $19.80.
                                
 The Market Vectors uranium and nuclear energy exchange
traded fund <NLR.P> fell 4 percent in premarket trade.
                                
 S&P 500 futures <SPc2> lost 7 points and were below fair
value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account
interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the
contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures <DJc2> fell 54
points, and Nasdaq 100 futures <NDc2> dropped 13.5 points.
                                
 Japanese ports handling as much as 7 percent of the
country's industrial output sustained major damage, disrupting
global supply chains and causing billions of dollars in losses,
industry officials said. [ID:nL3E7EE0AL] and [ID:nL3E7EE05V]
<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
                                
 SPECIAL REPORT-Can Japan find "New Deal?" [ID:nL3E7ED0FC]
                                
 Quake to hit Japan economy, lift debt     [ID:nN12187648]
                                
 Lasting political truce unlikely          [ID:nL3E7EC06R]
                                
 Nuclear incident scale:       http://r.reuters.com/cag58r
                                
 Map of reactors:              http://r.reuters.com/dyf58r
                                
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>
                                
 Japanese shares traded in New York also fell. Toyota Motor
Co <7203.T><TM.N>, which said it would suspend production at
all its Japanese car plants, dropped 6 percent to $80.50. The
iShares MSCI Japan index exchange traded fund <EWJ.P> fell 7.6
percent.
                                
 Brent crude touched a two-week low above $112, down 1.3
percent on concerns economic growth would slow after Japan's
disaster, while easing unrest in the Middle East threw the
focus back onto ample oil supplies. [O/R]
                                
 In merger news, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc
<BRKa.N><BRKb.N> agreed to buy lubricants maker Lubrizol Corp
<LZ.N> for $9 billion to tap rising demand for chemicals used
to operate engines and machinery. Lubrizol soared 27 percent to
$133.80 premarket. [ID:nL3E7EE1FG]
  (Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)