* Airlines, hotels down on fears of fresh pandemic curbs * GE jumps on surprise profit, positive cash flow * Indexes down: Dow and S&P 2.7%, Nasdaq 3% * Down down 2.89%, S&P 500 2.84% and Nasdaq 2.97% (New throughout, updates prices, market activity and comments to afternoon; changes byline and adds NEW YORK dateline) NEW YORK, Oct 28 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and the Dow slumped on Wednesday to their lowest levels since late September, as coronavirus cases climbed globally and investors also worried about the possiblity of a contested U.S. presidential election next week. A spiraling pandemic and the failure to approve new fiscal stimulus before the Nov. 3 election put the blue-chip Dow on track to close at its lowest since early August. All three major indexes fell about 3%. Twelve U.S. states set records for hospitalized COVID-19 patients on Tuesday, while Germany announced plans to shut large swathes of public life for a month and France prepared tighter controls as the pandemic surged across Europe.