By Yasin Ebrahim
Investing.com - Wall Street soared on Tuesday as ongoing efforts to reopen states nationwide and hopes for a Covid-19 vaccine boosted investor sentiment.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 2.51%, or 612 points, the S&P 500 gained 1.78% to rise above 3,000 for the first time since March 5, while the Nasdaq Composite added 1%.
The race for a potential vaccine continues to heat up, with Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) rallying more than 13% after the drugmaker said it had begun human trials for its potential coronavirus vaccine.
Merck (NYSE:MRK) climbed about 2% after it said it had teamed up with scientific research company IAVI to develop a potential vaccine.
Easing fears that reopening the economy could trigger a wave of infections also supported sentiment following data showing states that reopened before the start of May have seen a 29% reported drop in cases over the past three weeks, according to CNBC.
On the economic front, investors mulled mixed data as consumer confidence undershot expectations, but housing activity continued to rebound.
The Conference Board’s consumer confidence gauge rose to a reading of 86.6 in May from 85.7 the prior month, missing economists’ forecasts for a reading of 88. New home sales jumped to 623,000, topping economists' forecasts of 490,000.