By MATT OTT, TED SHAFFREY and LISA MARIE PANE, Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks surged on Wall Street to their highest levels since the business shutdowns took hold in the U.S. over two months ago, climbing on optimism Tuesday about the reopening economy even as the nation’s official death toll from the coronavirus closed in on 100,000, a number President Donald Trump once predicted the country would never see.
In a largely symbolic move, the New York Stock Exchange trading floor in Manhattan reopened for the first time in two months, with plexiglass barriers, masks and a reduced number of traders to adhere to 6-foot (2-meter) social distancing rules.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who has presided over the state with the highest death toll from the scourge, rang the bell to set off trading at the NYSE.
In hard-hit New York, Cuomo reported a one-day total Tuesday of 73 deaths, the lowest figure in months, and down from a peak of nearly 800.
Brazil has about 375,000 coronavirus infections — second only to the 1.6 million cases in the U.S. — and has counted over 23,000 deaths, but many fear Brazil’s true toll is much higher.
