President Trump turned the debut of a new federal savings program into a Wall Street celebration on Monday, ringing an opening bell to mark the first trading day for the accounts that bear his name.
The ceremony
Trump rang the opening bell to open trading and mark the launch of "Trump Accounts," ABC7 reported. He used the moment to talk up the markets, saying he expected stocks to keep climbing. "I think the market's going to go through the roof," he said, according to ABC7, a prediction, not a guarantee, of the sort he has often made in linking his presidency to investors' fortunes.
What Trump Accounts are
The accounts, created under the tax-and-spending law Republicans passed in 2025, are designed to give American children a financial head start. The government seeds an account for a newborn with about $1,000, and the money is invested in low-cost stock index funds to grow over time, an approach the Herald has detailed in earlier coverage.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent framed the program as a way to broaden participation in the markets, noting that a large share of American families have no money invested in stocks at all, ABC7 reported.
The market, and the politics
Stocks were modestly higher on the day, with the major indexes posting small gains led by technology shares. Trump has repeatedly pointed to market levels as evidence of his economic stewardship, a case that polling suggests has not fully landed. By ABC7's account of a recent survey, only about a third of Americans approve of his handling of the economy.
Critics of using the market as a scorecard note that stock gains flow disproportionately to wealthier households that already own shares, and that the benefit of programs like Trump Accounts depends on markets performing well over the long run, which no one can promise.
The takeaway
The bell-ringing was as much political theater as financial milestone, a president attaching his name and his optimism to the market on the day a program built around it began. Whether Trump Accounts deliver for the children they are meant to help will be measured not in a single trading day, but over the decades those investments are meant to grow.
