US STOCKS-Wall St to tumble as second Fed rate cut fans fears

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* S&P 500 ETF hits more than 14-month low
* Big U.S. lenders tumble after Fed's rate cut
* Energy stocks slump as oil prices fall below $30/barrel
* Futures down: Dow 4.53%, S&P 4.77%, Nasdaq 4.54%

(Adds comment, details; updates prices)
By Sanjana Shivdas and Medha Singh
March 16 (Reuters) - Wall Street looked set to plunge at
opening on Monday as a second emergency rate cut by the U.S.
Federal Reserve within two weeks intensified fears of recession.
S&P 500 futures EScv1 fell 4.77% to hit a daily down
trading limit overnight, signaling the benchmark index .SPX
could trigger a 15-minute cutout put in place to prevent another
1987 "Black Monday"-style crash.
The SPDR S&P 500 exchange traded fund SPY.P pointed to a
bigger drop at the open, plummeting 10% after the Fed slashed
short-term rates by another 100 basis points and pledged
sweeping asset purchases.
The S&P 500 index, which hit the circuit breaker twice last
week after a crash in oil prices and unexpected travel
restrictions from Europe, has now lost nearly $6 trillion since
its record closing high in mid-February.
"A significant downturn is looming over the coming months,
the only question is how deep it becomes," said Neil Shearing,
group chief economist at Capital Economics in London.
"As the scale of the economic and market disruption wrought
by the coronavirus becomes clear, it seems likely that investors
will increasingly start to question whether policymakers have
already exhausted their capacity to respond."
Central banks in Japan, Australia and New Zealand joined the
Fed in announcing dramatic monetary easing in a coordinated
effort not seen since the 2008 financial crisis, but could not
shore up global investor sentiment. MKTS/GLOB
World stocks tumbled nearly 2%, oil prices slumped 10% and
even safe-haven gold took a hit as France and Spain joined Italy
in entering virtual lockdown to contain the fast-spreading
disease. Bars, restaurants, theaters and movie houses in New
York and Los Angeles were ordered shut.
Retailers Nike Inc NKE.N , Lululemon Athletica Inc LULU.O
and Under Armour Inc UAA.N said they would close stores,
sending their shares down more than 8.5%. At 8:16 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMcv1 were down 1,041
points, or 4.53%. S&P 500 e-minis EScv1 were down 128.5
points, or 4.77% and Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQcv1 were down 359.75
points, or 4.54%.
S&P 500 ETFs SPY.P tanked to their lowest since December
2018.
Shares of lenders America Corp BAC.N , JPMorgan Chase & Co
JPM.N , Goldman Sachs Group Inc GS.N and Citigroup C.N fell
between 14% and 17% in premarket trading.
The big U.S. banks will stop buying back shares and use that
capital to lend to individuals and businesses affected by the
coronavirus, an industry trade group said. Tech heavyweights such Apple Inc AAPL.O , Microsoft Corp
MSFT.O , Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O were together set to lose over
$400 billion in market value.
The airline sector, among the worst hit by the virus
outbreak, took another beating on Monday as United Airlines
Holdings Inc's UAL.O March revenue fell $1.5 billion and the
airline warned employees that planes could be flying nearly
empty into the summer. Shares of United Airlines, Delta Air Lines Inc DAL.N and
American Airlines Group Inc AAL.O slumped between 15% and 19%,
while cruise line operators Carnival Corp CCL.N , Royal
Caribbean Cruises Ltd RCL.N dropped more than 13%.
Shares in oil majors Exxon Mobil XOM.N and Chevron Corp
CVX.N dropped more than 10% as U.S. crude fell below $30.
O/R