Donald Trump takes over New York Stock Exchange after scoring Time’s Person of the Year title

The symbolic ritual signals the start of the day at 9:30 am ET. Marisa Ricciardi, chief marketing officer of NYSE Euronext, had previously praised it as a “great platform to get visibility,” adding that ‘You can deliver a message to Wall Street, Main Street or around the world.” The Thursday milestone celebrates Donald Trump ringing the world’s most prestigious trading floor’s opening bell for the first time despite his decades-long identity as an NY businessman.

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Donald Trump thanks TIME Magazine

As for his “Person of the Year” recognition, he last received the title in 2016 when he was first elected president. He even joked about it at the event, saying, “I have to say… getting this honour for the second time. I think I like it better this time.”

He continued, “We had a great first term despite a lot of turmoil caused unnecessarily. But the media’s tamed down a little bit. They’re liking us much better now, I think.

“I do wanna thank TIME Magazine. I’ve been on the cover many times. I don’t know who has the record but I can only probably talk well about 25% covers. 25% are great, the others I sort of hide.”

At another point during his speech, he also addressed the issues that he needs to “straighten out” when he takes office on January 20. “I think we’ll have a tremendous run. We have to straighten out some big problems in the world. When we left we didn’t have any of these problems. We didn’t have Russia with Ukraine, Israel October 7th, we didn’t have the Afghanistan disaster, we didn’t have inflation. We had no inflation. And we had a very strong economy. And we will do that again.”

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Cheers for Trump at NYSE

The Republican leader is not the first member of his family to ring the iconic stock exchange bell. In 2019, Melania Trump rang the bell during her initial term as first lady. The US president-elect acknowledged the same, adding, “She rang in the bell.”

Melania was there to boost her husband’s morale alongside Trump’s daughters Ivanka and Tiffany. Vice President-elect JD Vance and Cabinet picks Robert F Kennedy Jr, Scott Bessent, Ben Carson, Kelly Loeffler, Pam Bondi, Elise Stefanik, and Lee Zeldin were also in attendance at the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday. Another clip of the day circulating online showed “USA” chants breaking out on the Trading Floor for the incoming president as well.

Considering how the tradition signifies fame and finance meeting half-way, former US President Ronald Reagan, R&B/pop star Usher, and Guardians of the Galaxy stars Chris Pratt and Zoe Saldana are some luminaries who have had the privilege to hit the corporate gong.

Watch Donald Trump’s address from New York Stock Exchange, Wall Street

This is a developing story.