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By Bloomberg

U.S. stock-index futures fell, indicating the Standard & Poor’s Index may drop for a fourth day, as a deepening commodities rout triggered a selloff in risk assets.

S&P 500 futures expiring in March slid 0.4 percent to 2,007.4 at 8:50 a.m. in London, paring earlier losses of as much as 1 percent. Dow Jones Industrial Average contracts retreated 62 points, or 0.4 percent, to 17,473.

“The decline in commodity prices has been a little bit faster than people expected,” Patrick Spencer, head of U.S. equity sales at Robert W. Baird & Co. in London, said in a phone interview. “That’s caught them a bit off guard and that’s kicked off concerns about world growth.”

A plunge in crude is spreading to the metals market, dragging a Bloomberg gauge of commodity prices to the lowest level in 12 years. Copper tumbled more than 6 percent today amid speculation that demand for raw materials won’t be enough to eliminate a supply glut. The World Bank cut its global growth outlook, citing weak expansions in Europe and China, the world’s biggest consumer of the industrial metal.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, which tracks expectations of U.S. stock swings, jumped 4.9 percent in New York yesterday, as the Dow average erased both a 282-point rally and a 143-point decline, then slipped again in the final minutes to close lower. The S&P 500 swung between an advance of 1.4 percent and a decline of 1 percent.

Among stocks that may move on corporate news, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co. may be active as they report fourth quarter results today. Profit at S&P 500 companies climbed 2 percent in the last three months of 2014, analysts estimate.

Exxon Mobil Corp., the largest U.S. energy company by market value, dropped 0.8 percent in European trading.