After the opening bell rang at the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday, President-elect Donald Trump stopped short of telling investors to buy more stocks as he prepares to take office.
“I don't want to get into a situation where that happens and we have a rollback or something like that, because that could always happen,” Trump told CNBC's Jim Cramer during “Squawk on the Street.”
Trump frequently used the stock market as a measure of performance during his first term. at that time, Standard & Poor's 500 It rose nearly 68% — reaching all-time highs. Part of this was due to the corporate tax cuts passed by the administration at the time. The Fed also kept interest rates near historic lows at the time as it tried to stimulate inflation — which also boosted stock prices.
President-elect Donald Trump is greeted by traders as he walks onto the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024, in New York.
Alex Brandon | AP
On Thursday, he touted the possibility of cutting taxes again. “We will do things we have never done before. We will cut taxes even further,” he said. “You pay 21% if you don't build here. And if you do, we'll try to raise it to 15%, but you have to build your product, and make your product in the USA.”
Wall Street CEOs and investors like Goldman Sachs's David Solomon and Pershing Square's Bill Ackman came to the New York Stock Exchange for Trump's bell-ringing ceremony. Ackman later told CNBC that “most of the country realizes that the more successful companies, the higher the stock market, the higher their wages, the more job growth, the more opportunity, the more companies that come to this country. It lifts all boats.”
To be sure, while Trump refrained from telling investors to buy stocks now, he maintained a bullish outlook over the long term.
“I believe that in the long run this country will be unparalleled,” he said after being named “Person of the Year” by Time magazine. “We had the best three years ever until Covid came along.”
– With reporting by Yun Lee
