Monday, October 26, 2026
The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia said on Thursday 15 October that its manufacturing index fell to 20.9 from 37.8, the second monthly decline, though it remains positive. New orders fell to 4.3 from 29.2. The prices-received index rose to 40.1, its highest since May 2025.
The world's chipmakers sold $159.7 billion of semiconductors in August, 144 per cent more than a year earlier, the Semiconductor Industry Association said on Monday, and passed $1 trillion for the year to date. In February the industry's forecast for all of 2026 was roughly $1 trillion. It is now more than $1.6 trillion. Micron's results show how much of the jump is price.
China's official manufacturing index rose to 50.1 in September, back above the line after two months of contraction. Production picked up and the services and construction gauge recovered. But the index of raw material prices jumped to 60.8, the steepest reading since the spring, while the index of prices factories charge rose to 54.0. The gap between what manufacturers pay and what they get is widening again.