Reopening optimism fuels stock market surge

Stocks soared Tuesday as enthusiasm builds about the reopening of the country and the development of a coronavirus vaccine.

The S&P 500 rose nearly 2%, breaking over 3,000 for the first time since March 5. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose over 2%, briefly trading above 25,000 for the first time since early March, CNN reported.

Some companies showing the greatest gains would be aided by faster removal of business and travel restrictions. They include Carnival, whose shares jumped 12.7%, MGM Resorts, whose shares climbed 8.6%, and United Airlines and Southwest Airlines, whose shares rose over 11% each.

The biotechnology firms Novavax and Merck announced efforts Monday and Tuesday to scale up the development of vaccines and antiviral treatments. Novavax announced Monday that it has begun human testing and hopes to have preliminary results from human trials in July.

Every state has entered some phase of easing pandemic restrictions, boosting investor optimism that the economy is on the mend.

“You could see a fairly rapid recovery,” JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said Tuesday. “The government has been pretty responsive, large companies have the wherewithal, hopefully, we’re keeping the small ones alive.”

Dimon added that “you’re already seeing the positive effects of the opening-up taking place, at least for the economy,” according to Bloomberg.

American consumer confidence stabilized as well, having plummeted to its lowest level in about six years at 85.7, in April. The confidence index recovered to 86.6 in May, CNBC reported. The rate of recovery was much higher than what economists expected and hoped for, as a Dow Jones survey found that economists predicted a confidence index of 82.3 in May.

President Trump applauded the economic gains Tuesday, saying that the “Transition to Greatness” has begun and is “ahead of schedule.”

“Stock Market up BIG, DOW crosses 25,000. S&P 500 over 3000. States should open up ASAP. The Transition to Greatness has started, ahead of schedule,” Trump said. “There will be ups and downs, but next year will be one of the best ever!”

Coronavirus cases in the United States surpassed 1.67 million Tuesday, far outpacing the two countries in second and third places for the number of cases, Brazil and Russia. The country is on track to hit a grim milestone by Wednesday morning, with the number of COVID-19 deaths approaching 99,000 on Tuesday evening, according to Johns Hopkins University data.

Hospitalization rates in Florida, Georgia, Virginia, Alabama, Maryland, Mississippi, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Ohio, and Arizona have crept up, which former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb attributed to reopening.

“We now see a trend in an uptick in hospitalizations. It’s a small uptick, but it is an uptick, and it’s unmistakable, and it is probably a result of reopening,” Gottlieb said on CNBC’s Squawk Box Tuesday.

The Washington, D.C., area also saw a slight uptick in cases over the long weekend, but district Mayor Muriel Bowser said Monday that the city is “back on track” to start reopening this week, having already seen a 12-day period of decline in new cases.

“We expected cases to go up and hospitalizations to bump up when we reopened, and I was talking to a lot of states about their plans, and they were expecting that there was going to be an uptick,” Gottlieb said.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam announced that Virginians over age 10 will be required to have a face covering when using public transportation and visiting salons, barbershops, and retail stores. Masks also must be worn in restaurants, except when eating. Virginia becomes the eighth state to issue such an order.

Trump announced a plan to reduce the cost of insulin for seniors. The agreement, struck with insulin manufacturers and healthcare providers, will reduce the copays for insulin to $35 for Medicare beneficiaries. That's a reduction of about 66% from the current cost, according to the White House.

The meatpacking industry has experienced a huge uptick in the number or coronavirus cases and deaths in the last month. According to a Washington Post analysis, cases have increased from 3,000 to over 11,000 at Tyson Foods, Smithfield Foods, and JBS, the nation’s three biggest meat producers. Throughout the industry, worker deaths have grown from 17 to 63. This comes despite the meatpacking industry spending hundreds of millions of dollars on protective gear and better ventilation systems.

The National Hockey League announced return-play-plans Tuesday that will include 24 teams. The NHL has not set dates for games or venues yet. Commissioner Gary Bettman said the league won’t do so until conditions are proven safe and players are at low risk of getting sick.

"Obviously, we anticipate playing over the summer and into the early fall," Commissioner Bettman said. "At this time, we are not fixing dates because the schedule of our return to play will be determined both by developing circumstances and the needs of the players."