Trump rings the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange

President-elect Donald Trump rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday.

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, among other things, by the strength of the stock market, which has so far welcomed his re-election.

The ringing of the bell marks the beginning or end of the trading day on the world’s largest stock exchange and is considered an honor.

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President-elect Donald Trump rings the opening bell on the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange on December 12, 2024 in New York City. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

The act has historically been reserved for executives of companies celebrating an IPO or other major corporate milestones, but celebrities and politicians such as Ronald Reagan, Nelson Mandela and Arnold Schwarzenegger have also rung it.

Before ringing the opening bell, Trump said he expects the U.S. economy to be strong in his second term but warned there are challenges that must be overcome.

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“We had a very strong economy and we will do that again, but I think we will make up for it because we have experiences now that we didn’t have. Now I know everyone,” Trump said at the NYSE press conference.

President-elect Donald Trump rings the opening bell on the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange on December 12, 2024 in New York City. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images/Getty Images)

“I think we’re going to have a great run, we have some problems to solve, some big problems in the world,” he said. “When we left we had none of these problems. We didn’t have Russia with Ukraine, we didn’t have Israel on October 7th, we didn’t have the Afghanistan disaster, we didn’t have inflation – we didn’t have inflation.”

President-elect Donald Trump rings the opening bell on the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange on December 12, 2024 in New York City. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images/Getty Images)

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Reuters contributed to this report.