US STOCKS-Wall St slumps as surge in virus cases clouds recovery outlook

(For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock
markets, click LIVE/ or type LIVE/ in a news window.)
* Airlines, hotel stocks down on fears of pandemic-led curbs
* GE jumps on surprise profit, positive cash flow
* Boeing dips after quarterly results
* Indexes down: Dow 1.61%, S&P 1.68%, Nasdaq 1.97%

(Updates to market open)
By Medha Singh and Shivani Kumaresan
Oct 28 (Reuters) - Wall Street main indexes slumped on
Wednesday as a surge in coronavirus cases in the United States
and Europe dashed hopes of a quick global economic recovery.
Shares of hotels, airlines and other companies sensitive to
COVID-19-related curbs dropped with Wynn Resorts WYNN.O down
2% and the S&P 1500 airlines index .SPCOMAIR declining 3%. The
energy index .SPNY lost about 3% as oil prices fell on fears
of lower fuel demand. 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 a failure to reach a deal on a
fresh round of U.S. fiscal stimulus before Nov. 3 elections have
wiped off all of blue-chip Dow's gains for October and pushed
the benchmark S&P 500 to near four-week lows.
Wall Street's fear gauge .VIX jumped to its highest level
in nearly two-months, also 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. 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.
Losses were broad-based with technology stocks .SPLRCT
weighing the most.
At 9:47 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
was down 442.69 points, or 1.61%, at 27,020.50 and the S&P 500
.SPX was down 57.05 points, or 1.68%, at 3,333.63. The Nasdaq
Composite .IXIC was down 224.75 points, or 1.97%, at
11,206.60.
Of the 170 S&P 500 companies that have reported
third-quarter earnings so far, about 84% have topped
expectations, 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 2.6% 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 2.7% and 3.7%.
General Electric Co GE.N jumped 8.6% after it reported a
surprise 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 1.9% as it reported its fourth
straight quarterly loss. Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 10.03-to-1
ratio on the NYSE and for a 6.28-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded no new 52-week highs and seven new
lows, while the Nasdaq recorded seven new highs and 66 new lows.