U.S. stock index futures fell on Wednesday as policymakers warned that Europe's debt crisis posed dangers to the global economy and Italian bond yields remained at elevated levels in a sign of ongoing risk aversion.

The European Central Bank stepped in to stem an accelerating selloff of euro zone government bonds, traders said. European shares were higher on the move but lost ground as the yield on Italian 10-year bonds continued to hover near 7 percent, but were off session highs.

It is clear that they (Europe) have a severe liquidity crisis developing and it is becoming more and more clear that they are going into a severe recession, said Paul Mendelsohn, chief investment strategist at Windham Financial Services in Charlotte, Vermont.

They have got to get their act together and resolve this issue or this recession is going to be worldwide.

Bank of Japan Governor Masaaki Shirakawa said the crisis was already affecting emerging nations and Japan in multiple ways. while the Bank of England forecast Britain was on the brink of a contraction due to the crisis.

S&P 500 futures fell 7.2 points and were below fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration of the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures were off 47 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures lost 6.75 points.

In U.S. company news, Dell Inc will be in focus after the computer maker's quarterly revenues just missed estimates, and it said full-year revenues could be hurt by an industrywide shortage of hard drives.

Peabody Energy Corp acquired 90 percent of its Australian takeover target, Macarthur Coal Ltd , clearing the way for the U.S. coal miner to buy 100 percent of the Australian company.

Starbucks Corp , grappling with higher costs, raised prices on some drinks in several major markets.

Apple Inc moved to shore up its board after the death of Steve Jobs, appointing Walt Disney Co chief executive Bob Iger to its board.

Citigroup Inc plans to cut as many as 900 jobs from its securities and banking division as it copes with turmoil in equity and debt markets, the Wall Street Journal reported.

October's consumer price index is expected to show prices were flat in the month. The data is due at 8:30 a.m. EST (1330 GMT). Industrial production is seen creeping up by 0.4 percent in October. That release is slated for 9:15 a.m. EST (14:15 GMT).

U.S. stocks rose on Tuesday, boosted by swift steps toward forming a new government in Italy and stronger-than-expected reports on the U.S. economy.

(Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

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