Major US stocks surged on Tuesday as the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) reopened its trading floors after the holiday weekend. As trading resumed on the floor of the exchange for the first time in over two months, indexes soared on the hopes of an economic recovery as major drug companies race to develop of coronavirus vaccine.

The NYSE previously closed down its trading floors back on March 23. Trading was still allowed but traders were instructed to continue their work remotely. NYSE president, Stacey Cunningham, mentioned in a Wall Street Journal column that stock trades are immensely better when done on the actual floor as the physical interactions result in reduced volatility and fairer prices.  

After the opening bell on Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had immediately surged by around 600 points. The sudden jump of about 2.3 percent sent index well past the 25,000 thresholds. The NASDAQ Composite surged by 1.6 percent, while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index climbed by 57 points or roughly 1.9 percent.

Economists at Deutsche Bank Securities pointed out that with the worst of the virus now behind in the US, investors are more confident in a major rebound. With the country slowly lifting restrictions and travel bans and with the economy now reopening, optimism is now at an all-time high.

US President Donald Trump was quick to point out the strong market response on Tuesday, mentioning in a tweet that the "Transition to Greatness" was now in full swing and ahead of schedule. Trump boasted that while this year may have been full of ups and downs, next year will definitely be one of the country's best ever.

Major US pharmaceutical companies are ramping up their efforts to develop a vaccine against the coronavirus quickly to ensure the continued reopening of the country's economy. Merck is one of the major firms that had recently joined the global race to develop a vaccine, announcing that it has partnered with a number of companies to explore different vaccine candidates.

On Monday, Novavax announced that its vaccine candidate has entered human studies. Last week, Moderna announced that it has managed to get positive results from early trials of its vaccine candidate. Other US companies that are also developing their own treatments include Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson.

Former FDA commissioner, Scott Gottlieb, mentioned in an interview that one of the drugs being developed by the companies should prove to be a breakthrough. While most of the country has already started to reopen, people's lives still remain at risk without an available vaccine. People returning to their jobs and children returning to school are still in danger of becoming infected.