Why Tech Fund Manager Cathie Wood Sees a ‘Golden Age’ for US Stocks Ahead

Worries about an AI bubble have some on Wall Street expecting the market’s brisk pace of recent gains to cool down this year. Not Cathie Wood.

The ARK Invest CEO, known for big bets on disruptive technologies, last week said she believes markets could be headed for a “Golden Age” over the next three years. Wood anticipates that a less restrictive business environment under the Trump administration would support investments in technology that help “unleash” growth for American businesses.

Falling interest rates, tax cuts, and deregulation that Wood called “Reaganomics on steroids” could lift stocks and see nominal U.S. gross domestic product growth accelerate to 6% to 8% annually in the coming years, Wood projected.

Wood is also counting on heavy capital spending by America’s biggest companies giving way to a productivity boost thanks to advances in technology such as AI, with the costs of running models expected to decline.

Developments in AI, robotics, energy storage, blockchain, and biological technology “are likely not only to push productivity growth to sustainable new highs but also to generate significant wealth creation,” she wrote.

Wood’s 2026 outlook, published Thursday, didn’t include a target for the S&P 500, though it was more bullish in tone than the outlooks of many Wall Street analysts, who largely expect the benchmark index to rise more modestly in 2026 than it did last year.

The biggest holdings of Wood’s flagship ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK), including Tesla (TSLA), Crispr Therapeutics (CRSP), Roku (ROKU), and Coinbase (COIN), speak to the firm’s bets in these areas.

Last year, the ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK) logged a total return of roughly 35%, outperforming the S&P 500’s 18%.