US STOCKS-Wall St slumps as tech stocks slide, COVID cases jump

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* Twitter slumps as user growth disappoints
* Under Armour climbs as revenue forecast exceeds
expectations
* Apple, Amazon, Facebook drop after results
* Alphabet rises as businesses resume ad spending
* Indexes down: Dow 0.9%, S&P 1%, Nasdaq 1.7%

(Updates to market open)
By Medha Singh and Shivani Kumaresan
Oct 30 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks fell on Friday, dragged down
by a slide in shares of tech heavyweights following their
quarterly results, with a record rise in coronavirus cases and
nerves over the presidential election adding to a downbeat mood.
Apple Inc AAPL.O tumbled about 6% after it posted the
steepest drop in quarterly iPhone sales in two years due to the
late launch of new 5G phones. Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O fell 4% after it forecast a jump in
costs related to COVID-19, while Facebook Inc FB.O shed 3.5%
as it warned of a tougher 2021. Tech .SPLRCT and consumer discretionary .SPLRCD sectors
posted the steepest percentage declines.
Communication services .SPLRCL got a boost from a 5.7%
jump in shares of Alphabet Inc GOOGL.O after the Google parent
beat estimates for quarterly sales as businesses resumed
advertising. "The market reaction today is more of where (the tech
results) came in vs certain people's expectations. Take a step
back and look at the growth that these companies delivered, it's
pretty impressive," said Pete Santoro, a Boston-based equity
portfolio manager at Columbia Threadneedle.
"We're two market days away from Election Day and people
want to make sure that they're not completely caught off guard."
President Donald Trump has consistently trailed Democratic
challenger Biden in national polls for months, but polls in the
most competitive states have shown a closer race. Wall Street's fear gauge .VIX held at a 20-week high ahead
of the final weekend before Election Day on Tuesday.
At 09:50 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
fell 229.87 points, or 0.86%, to 26,429.24 and the S&P 500
.SPX lost 32.67 points, or 0.99%, to 3,277.35. The Nasdaq
Composite .IXIC lost 187.12 points, or 1.67%, to 10,998.48.
The S&P 500 and Dow were on course for their worst week
since March as spiraling coronavirus cases in the United States
push hospitals to the brink of capacity.
Third-quarter earnings season is past its halfway mark, with
about 84.8% of S&P 500 companies topping earnings estimates,
according to Refinitiv data. Overall, profit is expected to
tumble 13.4% from a year earlier.
Twitter Inc TWTR.N slumped 18% after the micro-blogging
site reported fewer users than expected and warned the U.S.
election could impact ad revenue. Under Armour Inc UAA.N rose 6% as it forecast full-year
revenue above analysts' estimates, boosted by a surge in online
demand for running shoes and other fitness gear. AbbVie Inc ABBV.N gained 5% after the drugmaker posted
better-than-expected quarterly earnings and raised its full-year
adjusted profit forecast.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a
2.1-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 0.4-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted two new 52-week highs and one new low;
the Nasdaq Composite recorded six new highs and 30 new lows.