AMT economist comments on manufacturing technology demand
Real U.S. economic output increased at an annualized rate of 1.5% in the second quarter of 2026, according to the advanced estimate issued today by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. The reported rate of economic growth is below expectations after the previous quarter grew at 2.1%.
At last week's Federal Reserve meeting, where interest rates were kept steady, Fed Chair Kevin Warsh touted growing business investment; yet in the latest release from the BEA, gross private domestic investment grew at less than half the rate of the prior quarter. At the same time, investment in equipment, including manufacturing technology, remained elevated, growing at an annualized rate of 15.2%, after rising 15.8% in the previous quarter.
“In the first half of 2026, we saw elevated investment in manufacturing technology from producers of industrial equipment, so it is unsurprising that output remained strong in business investment in equipment,” said Christopher Chidzik, principal economist of AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology. “The strong growth in personal consumption was concentrated among durable goods, which means that more demand for metalworking machinery may come from industries closer to consumers, where sectors focused on capital and intermediary goods have taken the lion’s share of manufacturing technology orders so far this year.”
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