U.S. Stock Index Futures Signal Sharp Losses

Stock index futures pointed to a sharply lower open on Wall Street Monday, as renewed fears of a Greek debt default prompt investors to book some of last week's gains and turn to safer assets such as gold.

* At 0900 GMT, futures for the S&P 500 were down 2 percent, Dow Jones futures down 1.7 percent, and Nasdaq 100 futures down 1.8 percent.

* European stocks were down 2 percent in morning trade, led by banking shares such as Deutsche Bank and Societe Generale on renewed fears euro zone leaders won't be able to prevent a default by debt-stricken Greece.

* At meetings ending on Saturday, EU finance ministers broke no new ground in dealing with the crisis and made no decision on whether to give more firepower to the 440 billion euro ($607 billion) bailout fund, suggested by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

* Investors' risk aversion also rose after news Greece's Prime Minister George Papandreou canceled a visit to the United States to chair a Cabinet meeting on Sunday, a day before European Union and International Monetary Fund inspectors hold a conference call with Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos to hear how Greece will plug this year's budget shortfall.

* A regional election defeat for German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday, her sixth election defeat this year, also kept investors on edge.

* Investors awaited U.S. President Barack Obama's deficit-reduction plan on Monday, ahead of the Federal Open Market Committee meeting later in the week.

* Swiss bank UBS increased the amount it said it had lost on rogue equity trades to $2.3 billion on Sunday and Chief Executive Oswald Gruebel said the alleged fraud would have consequences for strategy and possibly also for himself.

* Netflix Inc is separating its movie streaming business and its DVD by mail service, which will be called Qwikster, Chief Executive Reed Hastings said in a company blog post.

(Reporting by Blaise Robinson; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)