March 2 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures fell over 1% on Monday, with investors increasingly pricing in the prospect that the conflict in the Middle East could persist for weeks, potentially disrupting global trade flows and adding to inflationary pressures.
Sectors that were hit the most in premarket trading included airlines, as several carriers halted flights and crude prices shot up 8%, while an overall cloudy outlook for the global economy weighed on financial stocks.
Delta DAL.N and United Airlines UAL.O tumbled over 5% each in premarket trading. Big banks such as Bank of America BAC.N and Citigroup C.N slid over 2% each.
Investors instead flocked to traditional safe havens such as the dollar USD=, while higher precious metal prices helped miners such as Gold Fields GFI.N gain 3.6% and Barrick Mining B.N added 2.8%.
Also getting a bid were defense stocks such as Lockheed Martin LMT.N and RTX RTX.N that jumped around 6% each, while Kratos KTOS.O surged 9% and AeroVironmentAVAV.Ojumped 10.3%.
