Stock index futures slid about 2 percent on Monday as global equities sold off after data from Japan showed that while the world's No. 2 economy has returned to growth, a recovery may be shaky.

Although data showed Japan's economy pulled out of its worst recession for 60 years, economists were wary about the outlook for next year as exports, the biggest contributor to April-June growth, may slow as the effect of stimulus measures wears off.

The economic situation is not as clear cut as the recent rally indicated. The game is not over, there is more work to be done economically, said Andre Bakhos, president of Princeton Financial Group in Princeton, New Jersey. This morning is one of these wake-up calls that the party may have to end some time.

Banks and natural resource stocks, among the most sensitive to fears of economic weakness, looked set to take the brunt of the selling, following a trend in Europe. Newmont Mining Corp fell 2.3 percent to $39.70 before the bell, while Bank of America Corp slid 4.4 percent to $16.63.

Retailer Lowe's Cos Inc reported lower-than-expected second-quarter earnings and forecast 2009 sales would be down about 3 percent. Its shares slid 9.2 percent in premarket trade.

Some big technology stocks, which have been among leaders in the rally since mid-March, also looked set to weigh on Nasdaq. Shares of Google Inc fell 1 percent to $452.00, while Apple Inc lost 2.2 percent to $163.03.

S&P 500 futures slid 22.80 points, and 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 tumbled 191 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures were down 30.75 points.

Last week, major U.S. indexes snapped a 4-week winning streak after a string of weaker-than-expected economic data, including a bleaker U.S. consumer sentiment index reading on Friday.

Japan's Nikkei index on Monday <.N225> fell 3.1 percent in its biggest one-day fall in nearly five months, Chinese stocks <.SSEC> tumbled 5.8 percent to their lowest close in two months, and European shares <.FTEU3> traded down 2.4 percent, led by banks and commodity related stocks.

Oil futures continued a slide from the end of last week, falling 2.2 percent and mirroring a drop in other commodities prices, as concerns that commodity prices, like equities, had run ahead of the global economic recovery.

In more worrying news from the financial sector, Colonial Bank of Montgomery, Alabama, was shuttered Friday and its assets sold to southeast regional bank BB&T Corp , marking the largest bank failure so far this year.

The S&P 500 index has rallied around 50 percent since hitting a closing low on March 9, with the latest leg from early July coming as a response to better-than-expected U.S. corporate earnings. The run-up has led many investors to expect a pullback.

The New York Fed will release its Empire State general business conditions index at 8:30 a.m. (1230 GMT), one of the earliest monthly guideposts to U.S. factory conditions. Analysts in a Reuters survey expect the index to rise to 3.00 from minus 0.55 last month.

(Reporting by Edward Krudy; editing by Padraic Cassidy)

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