US STOCKS-Futures slip as virus cases surge, stimulus uncertainty weighs

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* Futures down: Dow and S&P 0.9%, Nasdaq 0.8%

By Medha Singh
Oct 26 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures weakened on
Monday, as surging coronavirus cases and a stalemate in
Washington over the next fiscal aid bill darkened the economic
outlook in the run up to Nov. 3 presidential elections.
New infections touched record levels in the United States
over the weekend with El Paso in Texas asking citizens to stay
at home for the next two weeks. Travel-related stocks that are vulnerable to COVID-19 news
including American Airlines AAL.O and Booking Holdings Inc
BKNG.O fell 3% and 2%, respectively, before the bell.
Wall Street's main indexes finished last week lower as
investors closely monitored talks over the next round of fiscal
package, while economic data pointed at a stalling recovery.
U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday said the Trump
administration was reviewing the latest proposal for COVID-19
relief over the weekend and that she expected a response on
Monday. Meanwhile, more than 59.1 million Americans have already
voted in person or by mail as President Donald Trump and
Democratic challenger Joe Biden enter their final full week of
campaigning. It is also one of the busiest week of 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 .
Of the 135 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported
earnings so far, 83.7% of them have beaten Wall Street
expectations, according to Refinitiv data.
At 06:23 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis 1YMcv1 were down 0.9% at
27,933 points and S&P 500 E-minis EScv1 fell 0.91% to 3,420.25
points. Nasdaq 100 E-minis NQcv1 shed 0.79% at 11,571.5
points.