Fmr. Wal-Mart CEO: Trump Injects Confidence in Retail and Wall Street
Former Wal-Mart U.S. CEO and President Bill Simon discusses how President-elect Trump’s policies could impact businesses in America and how companies compete with Amazon.
President-elect Donald Trump is taking full responsibility for Wall Street’s post-election rally and boosting confidence in the economy.
“The world was gloomy before I won - there was no hope. Now the market is up nearly 10% and Christmas spending is over a trillion dollars!” Mr. Trump tweeted Monday night.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average is experiencing its biggest post-election rally in history with 8.7% gains, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq are up 5.8% and 5.2%, respectively.
In an interview on the FOX Business Network’s Varney & Co., former Wal-Mart U.S. CEO and President Bill Simon said he agrees with Trump’s sentiments and thinks he will accomplish unimaginable things as president.
“There’s optimism in America certainly in the middle of the country where we are today. There’s an excitement, an energy, that’s starting to grow and you can see that is coming out of Wall Street and I think retail sales for Christmas will actually be reasonably good,” Simon said.
Mr. Simon said the last eight years under the Obama administration have been a heavy burden on many small business owners and investors who have been smothered by regulations and taxes.
“A big piece of it is the easing of the burden of the last eight years and small business and investors and consumers now feel like the change has been taken off and there will be an opportunity to go forward,” he said.
The former Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) president also weighed in on challenges the company faces as it competes with Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN).
“I think the winners in retail won’t be the ones who replicate Amazon or defeat Amazon head-to-head because they are an anomaly. The winners will be the ones who figure out how to bring the amazing technology that exists today to a retail store,” Simon told host Ashley Webster.
When asked if Wal-Mart’s large discount department store model is viable in today’s online retail world, Simon said, “I think there will always be a place for physical retail. It’s when technology is brought to that physical retail so that the very best of the online experience, for example search, can be brought to a physical location, I think those are the winning plays.”