The United States economy is full of innovation. It has to be. Manufacturing industries that dominated the economy decades ago - textiles, televisions, even automobiles to a large degree - have moved overseas, where labor and materials costs are lower. Yet the U.S. economy, even during the pandemic and the current period of high inflation, has expanded to record levels. If U.S. corporations weren't innovating, creating new products (such as vaccines and AI) and services (such as Zoom calls) and moving into new markets, the domestic economy would not be growing, and capital would not be flooding into the country. The current high level of the U.S. dollar relative to currencies around the world attests to the confidence that global investors have in the durable and innovative U.S. economy.

Microchip Technology produces semiconductors used in a wide variety of embedded control applications. Products include 8-bit, 16-bit and 32-bit microcontrollers; a broad range of linear, mixed-signal, power management, thermal management, radio frequency (RF), timing, safety, security, and wired and wireless connectivity devices; and memory devices including EEPROM, serial flash, parallel, and static random access memories (SRAM). Microchip has more than 2,800 microcontrollers in its product catalog, which are used in end products in the automotive, communications, computing, consumer, and industrial control markets.

Stocks were mixed on Tuesday morning as investors digested new earnings results. Stocks in the news today include Palantir Technologies (PLTR), which gained 25% since reporting a stellar fourth quarter. BP plc (BP) shares are up following an earnings beat and plans to boost share repurchasing by $1.75 billion. The 10-year Treasury declined to 4.11%. The S&P 500 was up less than 0.01% and the Dow rose 0.2%, while the Nasdaq was down 0.1%. Crude Oil traded at $73 per barrel and gold was up $10 to $2053 per ounce.

Microchip Technology became an independent company in 1989 when it was spun off from General Instrument. More than half of revenue comes from MCUs, which are used in a wide array of electronic devices from remote controls to garage door openers to power windows in autos. The company's strength lies in lower-end 8-bit MCUs that are suitable for a wider range of less technologically advanced devices, but the firm has expanded its presence in higher-end MCUs and analog chips as well.