US stocks open higher as NYSE trading floor reopens

• About five minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 2.3 percent at 25,023.76.
• The broad-based S&P 500 gained 2.0 percent to 3,013.04.

NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks surged early Monday on optimism about coronavirus vaccines as the New York Stock Exchange resumed physical floor trading for the first time since late March.

About five minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 2.3 percent at 25,023.76.

The broad-based S&P 500 gained 2.0 percent to 3,013.04, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 1.6 percent to 9,468.96.

The gains came after a ceremony presided over by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who wore a mask as he rung the opening bell to signal the start of the day for traders, also clad in masks and separated by plexiglas.