Saudi Prince Alwaleed: Trump's policies have led to a $5 trillion boost in the US stock market
President Donald Trump is correct in saying $5.3 trillion in U.S. stock market value has been created under his watch, Saudi billionaire investor Prince Alwaleed bin Talal told CNBC on Monday. Alwaleed said the investments in his holding company, Kingdom Holding, have gone up "several billion dollars" since Trump was elected in November. Kingdom Holding invests in many U.S. corporations, including Citigroup (NYSE:C), Twitter (TWTR), and ride-hailing service Lyft. "Clearly, this [stock wealth] was created because of health care will be finalized and the tax reforms more importantly will be finalized also. There are a lot of good policies by Trump," the prince said in an exclusive interview on "Squawk Box " from the company's headquarters in Riyadh.
"My company, Kingdom Holding, would benefit a lot from Trump's policies," he added, but warned the U.S. needs to keep an eye on budget deficits." Alwaleed said people should accept Trump's style of making policy pronouncements on Twitter. "President Trump has his own way of governing," Alwaleed said. The prince also welcomed Trump's straight talk. "When he said that Puerto Rico is bankrupt and Puerto Rico will never pay its debt, he's right. He is not wrong in this. But we're used to presidents being diplomatic and very politically correct," the prince said. "It's just like Greece. It's never going to pay its debt." "When he says you should stand for the national anthem, he's right on this," Alwaleed said. "You have to respect your national anthem." "He says America first. He is saying something [is] wrong. You expect him to say America is No. 2?" the prince said. "I hope he's successful in his presidency."
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