Wall Street Higher on Optimism for Coronavirus Recovery

People wearing protective face masks pass the New York Stock Exchange, as employees arrive for the partial reopening of the trading floor, May 26, 2020.

There were big gains Tuesday on Wall Street amid investor optimism over a post-coronavirus economic recovery.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average soared 530 points, more than 2%. The S&P 500 was 1% higher, while the Nasdaq rose a fraction.

Travel-related stocks led Tuesday's gains with Americans anxious to get out of the house after more than two months of coronavirus lockdowns.

Carnival Cruises was up 13%, MGM Resorts 11%, and United and Southwest Airlines were both 10% higher.

U.S. President Donald Trump assessed Tuesday's market news, forecasting that the economy will skyrocket.

"The transition to greatness has started, ahead of schedule. There will be ups and downs, but next year will be one of the best ever," he tweeted.

But the big gains on Wall Street retreated a bit in the final hour of trading over reports that the United States is considering sanctions on China over its likely implementation of a tough new security law in Hong Kong.

Major European indexes in London, Frankfurt and Paris were all 1% higher, while the Nikkei index in Tokyo closed up more than 2%. Hong Kong was also up 2% and the S&P/ASX in Sydney was up 3%.