US STOCKS-Wall St closes down on soaring virus cases, U.S. stimulus worries

* Travel-related stocks fall as COVID-19 cases soar
* Oracle down as rival SAP scraps medium-term margin goals

(New throughout, updates prices, market activity and comments
to market close)
By Herbert Lash
NEW YORK, Oct 26 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks tumbled on Monday
in thin trade, with the S&P 500 posting its biggest daily
decline in four weeks, as soaring coronavirus cases and
uncertainty about a fiscal relief bill in Washington dimmed the
outlook for the U.S. economic recovery.
The United States, Russia and France set daily records for
coronavirus infections. The number of hospitalized Americans
with COVID-19 jumped to a two-month high. Travel-related stocks, vulnerable to COVID-19 related curbs,
fell sharply. The S&P 1500 airlines index .SPCOMAIR fell about
6% and cruise line operators Carnival Corp CCL.N and Royal
Caribbean Cruises Ltd RCL.N fell more than that.
"Fears about COVID-19 resurgence and the continued failure
to reach a fiscal policy package between Republicans and
Democrats has investors unnerved," said Michael Arone, chief
investment strategist at State Street Global Advisors in Boston.
"Those are the two biggest drivers of today's decline."
The energy .SPNY index tracked a more than 3% fall in oil
prices. The economically sensitive industrials .SPLRCI and
financials .SPSY also posted steep declines among S&P sectors.
O/R
The big price moves came as trading volume was substantially
less than the daily October average.
"From our clients' perspective, the uncertainty is causing
them to stay on the sidelines. So you're seeing a lack of
buyers, generally speaking," said King Lip, chief strategist at
Baker Avenue Asset Management in San Francisco.
U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi spoke
with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin about COVID-19 relief
legislation.
Wall Street's fear gauge .VIX hit its highest in more than
seven weeks as uncertainty grew over the Nov. 3 election. Some
60 million Americans have voted in a record-breaking early
turnout as Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden entered
their final week of campaigning. It is also one of the busiest weeks of the third-quarter
earnings season that will see results from mega-cap U.S. tech
firms including Apple Inc AAPL.O , Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O ,
Google-parent Alphabet Inc GOOGL.O and Facebook Inc FB.O .
The tech sector .SPLRCT is among the only three sectors
apart from healthcare .SPXHC and consumer staples .SPLRCS
expected to post an increase in profit from a year earlier.
Of the 139 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported
earnings so far, 83.5% have beaten Wall Street expectations,
according to Refinitiv data.
Unofficially, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell
647.1 points, or 2.28%, to 27,688.47, the S&P 500 .SPX lost
64.15 points, or 1.85%, to 3,401.24 and the Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC dropped 189.35 points, or 1.64%, to 11,358.94.
Software company Oracle Corp ORCL.N fell after German
rival SAP SAPG.DE abandoned medium-term profitability targets
and warned of a longer-than-expected recovery time from the
pandemic hit.
Hasbro Inc HAS.O tumbled as quarterly adjusted revenue
fell due to coronavirus-led delays in production of movies and
TV shows. Companies deemed stay-at-home winners including Amazon.com
Inc AMZN.O , Zoom Video Communications Inc ZM.O and video
game companies Activision Blizzard Inc ATVI.O and Take-Two
Interactive Software Inc TTWO.O bucked the downtrend and rose.