Investing in 250 Years of American Innovation
As readers celebrate the July 4 holiday with family, we’re reminded that for nearly 250 years, the United States has been an engine of invention, innovation, and growth. Over time, new industries have formed, productivity has improved, living standards have risen, and companies have been created, scaled, merged, disrupted, replaced, and reinvented.
One of the remarkable features of U.S. innovation is that it rarely comes from a single invention or a single company. History shows that progress builds in layers, with one breakthrough creating the infrastructure for the next. The integrated circuit, for instance, started as a practical solution to a physical problem, which was that computers could not keep growing if every connection had to be soldered by hand. By shrinking electronics onto microchips, it helped make possible everything from space exploration to factory automation to smartphones and artificial intelligence.
The automobile offers another example. Henry Ford did not invent the car, but the Model T and the moving assembly line changed the economics of transportation. By reducing assembly time from more than 12 hours to roughly 90 minutes, Ford helped turn the automobile from a luxury product into something much closer to a mass market good.
Throughout history, the U.S. economy has been remarkably good at taking ideas and building systems around them. These systems take the form of factories, supply chains, financing mechanisms, distribution networks, public markets, consumer ecosystems, etc. The result is that inventions become industries, and industries become sources of earnings, employment, productivity, and wealth creation.
But perhaps the most remarkable feature of it all is that everyday investors can ‘own’ a slice of the U.S. economy and all the innovation and growth it creates. I’m referring, of course, to our ability to buy stocks.
What’s more, investors do not need to identify every breakthrough company in advance to participate in American innovation over time. It is not necessary to correctly predict which single stock will dominate the next decade. A diversified equity portfolio, which is accessible for anyone who wants to invest, provides exposure to the evolving American growth engine while reducing the risk that any one company, product, or theme fails to live up to expectations. How great is that?
As we look ahead, artificial intelligence may be the next major chapter in this long American innovation story. There will be disruption, and some jobs and business models will undoubtedly change. But investors should be careful with the idea that every task or industry touched by AI will simply disappear. That has not been the pattern with major technologies before, and though much remains unknown about AI’s ultimate impact on the economy, I doubt the ‘AI jobs apocalypse’ is nigh. Computers did not eliminate work as many believed they would. There are over 250,000 data scientists in the U.S., for instance, a job that did not exist prior to the computer’s invention.
For investors, the long-term thesis for equity ownership can boil down to a single question: whether the U.S. economy still has the capacity to turn innovation into long term growth. History suggests it does, and I would not bet against this history.
Bottom Line for Investors
American innovation and economic growth have been powerful forces at work since our country’s founding. But 250 years of spectacular growth does not mean the path has always been smooth.
The country has also endured recessions, depressions, wars, inflation shocks, banking crises, political uncertainty, market crashes, speculative bubbles, and countless periods when investors had good reasons to feel uncertain about the future. Many would argue we’re living in one of those periods now, with artificial intelligence raising big questions about jobs, productivity, and the economy.
The investor’s job is not to predict every breakthrough or identify every future market leader in advance. The investor’s job is to stay positioned to participate in the broader system that turns innovation into growth, which in my view, means investing in stocks. The stock market is not a perfect reflection of American innovation, but it has historically been one of the most accessible ways for investors to participate in it. Owning equities means owning a claim on businesses that are adapting, competing, investing, and creating value in an economy built on reinvention.
Wall Street Journal. April 22, 2026. https://www.wsj.com/tech/us-technology-invention-resistance-681650a85
Your Fourth of July Grill Out May Be Pricier This Year
Beef remains a Fourth of July staple, but this year’s cookout may cost a little more. Ground beef prices were up 13% through May, while ground beef and steak cuts were both about 14% higher than a year ago, according to Wells Fargo’s Agri-Food Institute. The reason is mostly supply. Drought conditions, higher feed and labor costs, and years of herd reductions have left the U.S. cattle herd at its smallest level since 1951. Rebuilding herds takes time, since calves need roughly two to three years to reach the market. As such, that means tighter beef supply may remain part of the food-price picture for a while. Even still, higher beef prices don’t need to dampen the holiday. Wells Fargo estimates the average barbecue for 10 people will cost about $161 this year, or roughly $16 per person. Chicken, hot dogs, pork shoulder, and ribs are rising more slowly than beef, giving shoppers plenty of ways to keep the grill full without relying only on burgers and steaks. For investors, the story is also a reminder that inflation is not always broad-based. Sometimes it comes from very specific supply constraints. For families, the takeaway is simpler: celebrate the holiday, enjoy the grill, and shop strategically.
A World Cup Boost for the Job Market?
For soccer fans out there, it may be nice to know that the June jobs report may get a small lift from the World Cup. Goldman Sachs estimates the tournament could add roughly 40,000 jobs to payroll growth, with the impact most likely concentrated in leisure and hospitality, professional and business services, trade, and transportation. Private payroll data from ADP, which has already been released for June, showed 98,000 new jobs added, with nearly half the growth coming from education and health services. What we continue to see, in our view, is not a booming or a busting labor market, which is consistent with our forecast for modest but positive GDP growth in 2026. From an investment perspective, remember that jobs data are important but also backward-looking. Markets tend to care more about where growth, earnings, and policy are headed.
Celebrating America’s Birthday with Strong Stock Returns
U.S. stocks closed out a strong quarter, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq posting their best quarterly performances since 2020. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the rally was led by the Technology sector, with semiconductors having an especially strong showing. The PHLX Semiconductor Index climbed 88% for the quarter, its best quarter on record, as investors continued to price in strong demand for the hardware, data centers, and components needed to support AI. In keeping with July 4 sentiment, Q2 2026 offered a timely reminder of the U.S. economy’s ability to adapt, invest, and create new engines of growth. Looking ahead, investors are still watching inflation, interest rates, the Middle East, currency volatility, and the consumer. But as has been proven out especially this year, markets do not require perfect conditions to advance.
REFERENCED ARTICLES:
- Wall Street Journal June 30, 2026. https://www.wsj.com/economy/consumers/grilling-burgers-onthe-4th-get-ready-to-pay-up-8d78dded
- Fred Economic Data. June 10, 2026. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/APU0000703112#
- CNBC. July 1, 2026. https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/01/worldcup-could-boost-the-june-jobs-report-by-40000-goldmanestimates.html
- Wall Street Journal. June 30, 2026. https://www.wsj.com/finance/stocks/u-s-stocks-rise-to-cap-bestquarter-in-years-5f5ade0f
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