US STOCKS-Wall St falls after grim data; Trump suggests election delay

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* Q2 GDP numbers show record 33% contraction
* Jobless claims also up, though lower than forecast
* Qualcomm, UPS, P&G up after results
* Indexes down: Dow 1.14%, S&P 0.84%, Nasdaq 0.28%

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By Medha Singh and Devik Jain
July 30 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks fell sharply on Thursday
after a second straight rise in weekly jobless claims fueled
worries about a post-pandemic economic recovery, while President
Donald Trump floated the possibility of delaying the Nov. 3
presidential elections.
Trump, without evidence, repeated his claims of mail-in
voter fraud and raised the question of a delay in a tweet,
though the Constitution bestows that power on Congress, not the
president. Earlier in the day, official data showed the U.S. economy
suffered its steepest contraction since the Great Depression in
the second quarter, as business activity came to an abrupt halt
on efforts to slow the virus outbreak. Jobless claims also rose in the latest week, adding to signs
the momentum of economic recovery has slowed as coronavirus
cases spiraled in southern and western U.S. states.
"The short-term data indicates we're kind of flattening out
a little bit, which indicates the recovery is much less a 'V'
and a little bit more a 'square root sign' at this point," said
Paul Nolte, portfolio manager at Kingsview Asset Management in
Chicago.
"The markets are taking a breather here and assessing what
the next six months look like. We've got plenty of stuff on our
plate from China to the elections, the virus to reopening
schools."
The U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday acknowledged the surge
in cases was likely stalling recovery, while pledging to support
the economy as long as necessary, giving a boost to Wall
Street's three main indexes late in the session. All S&P sectors were in the red on Thursday, led by declines
in economically sensitive sectors — financials .SPSY , energy
.SPNY and materials .SPLRCM .
At 11:26 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
was down 302.28 points, or 1.14%, at 26,237.29, the S&P 500
.SPX was down 27.39 points, or 0.84%, at 3,231.05. The Nasdaq
Composite .IXIC was down 29.85 points, or 0.28%, at 10,513.09.
Qualcomm Inc QCOM.O , United Parcel Service Inc UPS.N ,
and Procter & Gamble Co PG.N gained following quarterly
results, with Johnson & Johnson JNJ.N up slightly as it
started human safety trials for its COVID-19 vaccine.
Corporate earnings have tended to be better than
expectations so far, but the scale of the economic damage from
the pandemic, and the likelihood it will drag on are weighing on
investors' minds.
The White House and Congress are still at loggerheads over a
coronavirus relief plan, ahead of the lapse of the enhanced
$600-per-week unemployment benefits on Friday. Apple Inc AAPL.O , Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O , Alphabet Inc
GOOGL.O and Facebook Inc FB.O will report earnings later on
Thursday, with some on Wall Street questioning their valuations
after this year's gains.
Shares of the companies, which have a combined market value
of about $5 trillion, fell between 0.3% and 0.5%. Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 3.16-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and a 1.96-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 18 new 52-week highs and no new low,
while the Nasdaq recorded 47 new highs and 25 new lows.