US STOCKS-Futures slump as Chinese stock rout deepens

* Futures down: Dow 406 pts, S&P 44 pts, Nasdaq 150 pts

Aug 24 (Reuters) - U.S (Other OTC: UBGXF - news) . stock index futures fell sharply on Monday as alarm bells rang across world markets following a more-than 8 percent drop in Chinese shares and a steep fall in commodity prices.

* A sharp decline at the open could tip the S&P 500 and Nasdaq composite indexes into correction territory - meaning stocks, at their lows, are 10 percent off their 52-week highs. The Dow Jones industrial average and the Nasdaq 100 slid into a correction zone on Friday.

* The lack of new measures from Beijing to support Chinese stocks following an 11 percent rout last week sparked a free-fall in global equities and a selloff in oil and commodities.

* Oil fell more than 4 percent to a 6-1/2-year low, while London copper and aluminum futures hit their lowest since 2009.

* Wall Street's selloff last week showed investors are becoming increasingly nervous about paying high prices for stocks at a time of minimal earnings growth, tumbling energy prices, and an expected rate hike by the U.S. Federal Reserve.

* European stocks were down 3.4 percent after their Asian counterparts slumped to 3-year lows as the three month-long rout in Chinese equities threatened to get out of hand.

* Apple (NasdaqGS: AAPL - news) shares slid 4.3 percent to $101.20 in premarket trading and were set to open at their lowest this year.

* Alibaba fell 6.53 percent to $63.81, well below its IPO price of $68, making it the second high-profile tech company to fall below its IPO price in the past week after Twitter (Xetra: A1W6XZ - news) on Thursday.

Futures snapshot at 6:51 a.m. ET:

* S&P 500 e-minis were down 44 points, or 2.23 percent, with 775,008 contracts traded.

* Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 150 points, or 3.57 percent, on volume of 109,085 contracts.

* Dow e-minis were down 406 points, or 2.47 percent, with 98,440 contracts changing hands. (Reporting by Tanya Agrawal; Editing by Ted Kerr)