NEW YORK: US stocks fell sharply on Thursday after a second straight rise in weekly jobless claims fuelled worries about a post-pandemic economic recovery, while President Donald Trump floated the possibility of delaying the Nov. 3 presidential elections.

Trump, without evidence, repeated his claims of mail-in voter fraud and raised the question of a delay in a tweet, though the Constitution bestows that power on Congress, not the president.

Earlier in the day, official data showed the US economy suffered its steepest contraction since the Great Depression in the second quarter, as business activity came to an abrupt halt on efforts to slow the virus outbreak.

Jobless claims also rose in the latest week, adding to signs the momentum of economic recovery has slowed as coronavirus cases spiraled in southern and western US states.

"The short-term data indicates we're kind of flattening out a little bit, which indicates the recovery is much less a 'V' and a little bit more a 'square root sign' at this point," said Paul Nolte, portfolio manager at Kingsview Asset Management in Chicago.

At 11:26 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 302.28 points, or 1.14%, at 26,237.29, the S&P 500 was down 27.39 points, or 0.84%, at 3,231.05. The Nasdaq Composite was down 29.85 points, or 0.28%, at 10,513.09.