Stock index futures fell on Wednesday, following global equity markets lower, as fears of a slowdown in the world economy persisted.

* Asian and European markets slid, with Japan's Nikkei average <.N225> closed off 0.6 percent, and the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 <.FTEU3> declining 0.5 percent Wednesday morning, resuming an almost uninterrupted two-week retreat.

* U.S. stocks struggled to make headway on Tuesday, and while they broke a five-day losing streak, buying interest evaporated in the afternoon, as investors sold into the rally in what has become a familiar pattern over the past two months.

* Rick Meckler, president of investment firm LibertyView Capital Management in New York, said the failure to hold gains in the last session indicated the market was trying to find a bottom.

* Whether we're facing a double-dip recession or whether this is just the slowing that results from the withdrawal of some government stimulation, things have certainly slowed down and worries about that have spread into the market, he said.

* S&P 500 futures fell 2.2 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 dropped 22 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures lost 3 points.

* Euro zone economic growth in the first three months of 2010 was confirmed on Wednesday at 0.2 percent quarter on quarter, but any stronger expansion in the second quarter could be short-lived.

* A European committee of bank supervisors will outline the methodology for stress tests of about 100 banks in the euro zone and beyond later Wednesday, sources told Reuters.

* U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner sounded a positive note on Tuesday, saying he was confident the economy would continue to grow as it comes back from the financial crisis, but added that recoveries were never even, never steady.

* In what could be an early taste of the coming earnings season, Family Dollar Stores Inc posted higher quarterly profit as customers sought cheap food and other everyday items in the face of high unemployment, but the discount chain forecast fourth-quarter earnings below expectations.

* Microsoft Corp plans to cut a small number of jobs as early as this week, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing a source.

* Lockheed Martin Corp has won a $522 million contract to build 42 F-35 fighter planes, the Pentagon said.

* BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward met with officials from Abu Dhabi's investment authority as speculation mounted the sovereign fund would make a fresh investment. BP's shares rose 2.4 percent to $32.68 in premarket trade.

(Reporting by Edward Krudy; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

Japan Nikkei 225 Nikkei 225 Timothy geithner