President-elect Donald Trump walks onto the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) with his wife Melania, after being named TIME’s “Person of the Year” for the second time on December 12, 2024 in New York City.
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CNBC’s Jim Cramer argued that President-elect Donald Trump’s appearance at the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday is a good sign for the market, even as the major averages fell.
“Love him or hate him, Trump’s unabashed love for business makes it easier to be a good investor because investors do need staying power,” he said. “It’s tough out there, you have to be able to own stocks through thick and thin if you’re trying to make big money in the market.”
Cramer acknowledged that Trump’s opinion on business won’t be a major influence on the market every day, and mentioned how many good stocks slid the same day the president-elect visited the NYSE. He named Adobe, as shares of the computer software company fell more than 13% on Thursday, and said that a president can’t expand the company’s margins. Instead, the company has to either lower prices or make a product significantly better than competitors, including Figma or Canva.
But Cramer argued that Trump ringing the bell is reassuring to investors, and compared it to when former-President Ronald Reagan rang the bell in 1985. Reagan’s pro-business stance made people want to go buy more stocks, and Trump ringing the bell is a positive signal to investors, he said.
While many of Trump’s proposals throughout his term may be delayed or blocked, Cramer said what matters is having a president who will favor higher stock prices. He criticized President Joe Biden for never making a visit to the NYSE during his term, and said that his experience with Biden from the CNBC show “Kudlow and Cramer” showed he didn’t care about the market. Biden undervalued the number of people who gained significant wealth over the last four years, while Trump welcomed the investing class, Cramer said.
CNBC has reached out to the White House for comment.
“Today, like that shiny hill day in 1985, when Reagan stood up here, it’s a reminder that the Trump White House will be very much in favor of higher stock prices, and that makes it easier to invest,” he said. “As far as I’m concerned, that’s great for the stock market, even if today was a suboptimal session that will mean absolutely nothing in the great long term.”
