GLOBAL MARKETS-Shares tumble on global growth concerns; Treasury yields fall

(Corrects paragraph 7 to say Chesapeake had tapped existing adviser Kirkland & Ellis to explore restructuring options, not that it had hired restructuring lawyers)

* S&P financial index falls about 3 pct

* Cost of insuring European financials' debt surges

* Oil prices fall, Chesapeake shares plunge over 50 pct

* 10-year Treasury yield hits 1-year low

* Spot gold hits highest level since June

By Sam Forgione

NEW YORK, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Stock indexes worldwide tumbled on Monday, led by banking stocks in Europe and technology stocks on Wall Street on persisting fears of a global economic slowdown, while benchmark 10-year Treasury yields hit their lowest in a year on demand for assets deemed less risky.

European shares extended the previous week's big losses, with the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top regional shares falling more than 3 percent to its lowest in 16 months. Cyclical sectors such as banking and automobiles bore the brunt of the selloff.

The STOXX Europe 600 banking index tumbled over 5.5 percent, putting the index's losses for this year at more than 24 percent on concerns about banks' profit outlook amid a negative rate environment.

Wall Street continued Friday's technology-led selloff, with the benchmark S&P 500 stock index falling more than 2 percent. The S&P financial index fell about 3 percent, with shares of Bank of America (Swiss: BAC.SW - news) , JPMorgan and Citigroup (NYSE: C - news) dragging down the index.

The cost of insuring the European financial sector's senior debt against default also climbed to its highest level since late 2013.

U.S (Other OTC: UBGXF - news) . crude prices fell after a meeting between Saudi Arabia and Venezuela failed to reassure investors of measures to bolster sagging prices.

Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) of Chesapeake Energy (Other OTC: CHKDJ - news) fell over 50 percent to their lowest levels since 1999 after sources told Reuters that the natural gas company had tapped existing adviser Kirkland & Ellis to explore restructuring options.

"We need oil to stabilize to provide some confidence for investors, partly because to a degree, investors' stress is high, earnings visibility is low, and market internals continue to weaken," said Terry Sandven, chief equity strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management in Minneapolis.

Brent crude was last down 37 cents, or 1.09 percent, at $33.69 a barrel. U.S. crude was last down 47 cents, or 1.52 percent, at $30.42 per barrel.

MSCI's all-country world equity index, which tracks shares in 45 nations, was last down 7.5 points, or 2.05 percent, to 359.07.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 379.37 points, or 2.34 percent, to 15,825.6, the S&P 500 lost 45.32 points, or 2.41 percent, to 1,834.73 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 130.44 points, or 2.99 percent, to 4,232.71.

Europe's broad FTSEurofirst 300 index was last down 3.66 percent at 1,236.11.

Many Asian share markets were shut for the Lunar New Year holiday. Chinese markets will remain shut this entire week.

Benchmark 10-year Treasury yields reached a one-year low of 1.7400 percent, as the stock market decline and concerns about slowing global growth increased investor appetite for safe-haven government debt.

U.S. 10-year Treasury notes were last up 30/32 in price to yield 1.7431, from a yield of 1.848 percent late Friday.

"Weakness in global equities is adding pressure on Treasuries," said Ian Lyngen, senior government bond strategist at CRT Capital in Stamford, Connecticut, in reference to yields.

The dollar fell to a roughly 14-month low against the yen of 115.170 yen, partly on doubts about the effectiveness of the Bank of Japan's negative interest rate policy.

Safe-haven spot gold reached a peak of $1,198.70 an ounce, its strongest since June 22. (Additional reporting by Jemima Kelly, Nigel Stephenson and Susan Fenton in London, Dion Rabouin and Tariro Mzezewa in New (KOSDAQ: 160550.KQ - news) York and Abhiram Nandakumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Bernadette Baum)