Stock index futures fell on Monday as investors shed riskier assets before euro zone finance ministers meet to discuss the region's debt crisis.

Oil fell more than $1 per barrel as worries over the restructuring of euro zone debt and doubts about the pace of global growth encouraged investors to reduce risk.

The euro dropped to its lowest since March ahead of the euro zone meeting in Brussels on the bloc's debt crisis, foremost Greece, which investors fear is at risk of default.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the head of the International Monetary Fund, is due to appear in court in New York since being accused of trying to rape a hotel maid in a case that sent shock waves through French political circles and left the IMF in turmoil.

Meeting on Monday, euro zone finance ministers are likely to back a bailout package for Portugal, with new conditions set by Finland, in talks overshadowed by the charges against Strauss-Kahn, while the meeting was also expected to pressure Greece to announce more austerity steps to secure further emergency funding.

Financial stocks were expected to be pressured after European banks, including Deutsche Bank and Societe Generale , fell sharply.

S&P 500 futures fell 6.1 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 lost 52 points and Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 5 points.

European stocks were down in early trade on Monday, with the euro zone's blue chip Euro STOXX 50 <.STOXX50E> index falling 1 percent to a one-month low.

Japan's Nikkei stock average hit a 1-month low to end just under a key technical level on Monday, hurt by volatile commodities as well as concerns about global growth.

In U.S. economic news, the New York Federal Reserve is set to release its Empire State Manufacturing Survey for May at 8:30 a.m., while the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo issues May housing market index at 10 a.m.

U.S. stocks ended a second week of losses on a down note Friday, reflecting growing worries that stocks are ripe for a pullback.

(Reporting by Angela Moon, Editing by Kenneth Barry)

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