President-elect Donald Trump is already taking dramatic steps to improve the U.S. economy. His cabinet picks are poised to cut regulations and Trump himself is ready to cut taxes. On Wednesday, he reached out to tech leaders who supported Hillary Clinton.
They were some of his most outspoken opponents during the campaign, but Trump met with heavyweight tech leaders from the Silicon Valley. They included the heads of Amazon, Intel, IBM and Microsoft. He promised fair trade deals that will allow the companies to trade across borders – and an open door at the White House.
"We'll be there for you and you'll call my people, you'll call me," Trump told them. "It doesn't make any difference – we have no formal chain of command around here."
Other prominent themes at the meeting included creating jobs, cutting taxes and rolling back rules that interfere with business abroad.
Those priorities are driving the president elect's agenda – and his cabinet picks reflect them.
Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Trump's nominee for energy secretary, is vowing to cut regulations on the energy industry and Scott Pruitt, the nominee for head of the Environmental Protection Agency, is expected to roll them back as well. Plus, Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson, Trump's choice for secretary of state, will undoubtedly keep U.S. business interests high on his radar as he shapes foreign policy with international friends and foes.
And the Federal Reserve provided a strong indicator on Wednesday that it believes the economy is moving in the right direction. It hiked its key interest rate by a quarter of a percent.
"The economy has proved to be remarkably resilient so it is a vote of confidence," said Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen.
But some analysts say that despite its mildly positive outlook, the Fed still expects the slow growth of recent years to continue in the future and isn't taking into account the potential that Trump's policies could lead to a stronger economy.
Meanwhile, Wall Street is clearly happy with the president-elect. Just since Election Day, the so-called Trump rally has taken stocks up sharply – around 9 percent – with the Dow Industrials closing in on the historic 20,000 level.
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