President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange.
The Republican built his fortune as a New York real estate investor before turning to politics. During his first term as president, he measured his success in part by the strength of the stock market, which has so far welcomed his re-election.
The ringing of the bell signifies the start or closing of the trading day at the world’s largest stock exchange, and is considered an honor.
TRUMP VOWS ‘TREMENDOUS INCENTIVE’ ON TAXES DURING NYSE VISIT
The act has historically been reserved for company executives celebrating an initial public offering or other major corporate milestones, but celebrities and politicians like Ronald Reagan, Nelson Mandela and Arnold Schwarzenegger have also rung it.
Before ringing the opening bell, Trump said that he thinks the U.S. economy will be strong in his second term but warned there are challenges to be dealt with.
TRUMP MAKES VOW TO ANYONE WHO INVESTS $1 BILLION OR MORE IN THE U.S.
“We had a very strong economy, and we’re going to do that again, but I think we’re going to even up it because now we have experience we didn’t have. Now I know everybody,” Trump said at the NYSE.
“I think we’re going to have a tremendous run, we have to straighten out some problems, some big problems in the world,” he said. “When we left, we didn’t have any of these problems. We didn’t have Russia with Ukraine, we didn’t have Israel Oct. 7, we didn’t have the Afghanistan disaster, we didn’t have inflation – we had no inflation.”
GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE
Reuters contributed to this report.