US STOCKS-Wall St set to drop as surge in virus cases clouds economic outlook

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* Airlines, hotel stocks down on fears of pandemic-led curbs
* GE jumps on surprise profit, positive cash flow
* Boeing dips after quarterly results
* Futures down: Dow 1.8%, S&P 1.5%, Nasdaq 1.3%

(Adds comment, details; updates prices)
By Medha Singh and Shivani Kumaresan
Oct 28 (Reuters) - Wall Street was set to fall on Wednesday
as coronavirus cases rose at an alarming rate in the United
States and Europe, quelling hopes of a quick recovery in the
global economy.
Wynn Resorts WYNN.O and United Airlines Holdings UAL.O ,
companies sensitive to coronavirus-led restrictions, dropped 2%
and 3%, respectively, in premarket trading. Energy companies
took a hit from a slump in oil prices, with Occidental
Petroleum Corp OXY.N falling about 4%. O/R
New cases and hospitalizations set records in the U.S.
Midwest, while concerns over a national lockdown in France and
tighter restrictions in Germany sapped investor appetite for
risk. MKTS/GLOB
"Whether you call it a continuation of the pandemic or a
third wave of new case discovery - it is the largest concern,"
said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at National Securities
in New York.
"Unless and until we get through this pandemic, it is hard
for investors to imagine a better economic time."
A spiraling pandemic and an impasse in Washington over fresh
fiscal stimulus sent the S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq to their
lowest close in three weeks on Tuesday.
Wall Street's fear gauge .VIX spiked to its highest level
in nearly two months on concerns over a delay in counting the
huge volume of mail-in ballots, meaning a winner might not be
declared the night of Nov. 3, when polls close.
Democratic challenger Biden leads President Donald Trump
nationally by 10 percentage points, according to the
Reuters/Ipsos poll, but the competition is tighter in swing
states, which will decide the victor. "The uncertainty of not knowing the direction we are heading
is making investors step on the sidelines and wait for the
election results," Hogan said.
At 08:27 a.m. EDT, Dow E-minis 1YMcv1 were down 1.81% at
26,872 points and S&P 500 E-minis EScv1 fell 1.51% to 3,332
points. Nasdaq 100 E-minis NQcv1 dropped 1.3% to 11436 points.
Of the 170 S&P 500 companies that have reported
third-quarter results so far, about 84% have topped expectations
for earnings, according to Refinitiv data. Profit on average is
expected to fall 16.4% from a year earlier.
Microsoft Corp 's MSFT.O quarterly results surpassed
analysts targets, benefiting from a pandemic-driven shift to
working from home and online learning. Its shares, however,
fell 2.4% after rising 35% so far this year.
The other Big Tech companies - Apple AAPL.O , Alphabet
GOOGL.O , Amazon AMZN.O and Facebook FB.O - which are due
to report results on Thursday, fell between 0.9% and 1.9%.
General Electric Co GE.N jumped 7% after the company
unexpectedly reported a quarterly profit and a positive cash
flow on the back of cost cuts and improvements in its power and
renewable energy businesses. Boeing BA.N slipped 0.2% as it reported its fourth
straight quarterly loss, while reaffirming its expectation that
U.S. deliveries of the 737 MAX aircraft would resume before
year-end.