US stock markets have generated an annualized return of 8.7% since the declaration of independence in 1776, according to historical analysis cited by MarketWatch.
The figure highlights the long-term compounding power of American equities over a 250-year horizon, despite periodic crises and structural shifts in the financial system.
The analysis points to the 1907 panic as a pivotal moment that transformed US financial architecture.
The excesses of the Gilded Age, dominated by figures such as J.P.
Morgan, Andrew Carnegie, and John D.
Rockefeller, ultimately led to systemic instability.