* Major U.S. stock indexes down more than 1 pct
* European stocks drop 2.5 percent as BP , UBS slump
* Crude prices off more than 3 pct
* U.S. Treasury yields fall to 9-month lows
(Updates with opening of U.S. markets; pvs dateline London)
By Lewis Krauskopf
NEW YORK, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Oil prices fell more than 3
percent on Tuesday amid worries about demand, renewing pressure
on global equities and boosting buying of safe-haven U.S.
government bonds.
U.S. crude prices slipped below $30 a barrel before
recovering somewhat as hopes for a deal between OPEC and Russia
on output cuts faded.
The prolonged crude slide was reflected in results from oil
majors BP BP.L , whose shares slumped after posting a $6.5
billion loss for 2015, and Exxon (N:XOM) XOM.N , which posted its
smallest quarterly profit in more than a decade.
The major U.S. stock indexes all were down more than 1
percent in morning trading, led down by energy shares, while the
pan-European FTSEurofirst index .FTEU3 dropped more than 2
percent.
Oil's renewed drag on equities comes as some investors
recently had expressed hope that other markets were beginning to
diverge from the performance of the beaten-down commodity.
"People want to see stability in that market and every time
they think there's maybe some stability, it seems to leg down,"
said Rick Meckler, president of LibertyView Capital Management
in Jersey City, New Jersey. "For equity owners and some of the
high-yield owners that are tied to energy, it is a little
unnerving that it can't really seem to find a stabilized floor."
The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI was down 251.92
points, or 1.53 percent, at 16,197.26, the S&P 500 .SPX lost
27.52 points, or 1.42 percent, at 1,911.86 and the Nasdaq
Composite .IXIC dropped 57.45 points, or 1.24 percent, at
4,562.92.
Meckler also said the first results of the U.S. presidential
primary season could be creating greater uncertainty for
investors because there were no clear winners.
U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas edged businessman Donald
Trump in the Republican race, while on the Democratic side,
former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton won by a razor-thin
margin against U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
European equities were also dragged lower by Swiss bank UBS
UBSG.VX , whose shares fell 6.7 percent after reporting a
surprise outflow of funds from its flagship wealth management
business.
MSCI's 46-country All World share index .MIWD00000PUS fell
1.5 percent.
U.S. Treasury yields fell to nine-month lows on safety
buying as oil prices resumed their slide.
Benchmark 10-year notes US10YT=RR were up 24/32 in price
to yield 1.8827 percent, down from 1.966 percent late on Monday.
"I think the reaction in the bonds is greater than you would
think from the stimulus of oil and the stock market," said Lou
Brien, a market strategist at DRW Trading in Chicago. "Part of
it is, maybe people started leaning the wrong way last week if
they thought we'd seen the bottom in crude and stocks."
Euro zone yields fell as European Central Bank chief Mario
Draghi confirmed his commitment to review monetary policy next
month.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against
a basket of six major currencies, fell 0.04 percent, while the
euro EUR= was up 0.2 percent against the dollar.
"The risk-off bias of the marketplace ... typically favors
yen and euro over the dollar," said Richard Franulovich, senior
currency strategist at Westpac in New York.
(Additional reporting Karen Brettell and Sam Forgione in New
York, by Marc Jones and Karin Strohecker; editing by Larry King)