Member Briefing August 20, 2026

AIT CEO: Expect More Manufacturing M&A in Coming Year

Acquisitions are likely to play a bigger role in the coming year at distribution giant Applied Industrial Technologies Inc., President and CEO Neil Schrimsher told investors last week. “The M&A backdrop is increasingly productive as targets face heightened competition, required operational investments and extended ownership life cycles,” Schrimsher said on an Aug. 13 conference call. The picture he painted is one that affects many manufacturing business but also speaks to other parts of the economy when it comes to smaller firms: Years of needing to deal with supply-chain snarls and cost pressures have weighed on margins. The need to set up new technology systems, many of them built around artificial intelligence tools, also is stretching budgets in new ways.

The third element of Schrimsher description of the M&A market might be the most important. “Extended ownership life cycles” in this case points to the many companies acquired by private-equity companies early this decade. Typically, PE pros look to improve the operations of their companies and then sell them five to seven years later. But the pandemic and other disruptions have extended that timeline for many investors, leaving them with more companies than expected under their umbrellas: Research firm PitchBook early this month said PE firms now own nearly 33,600 portfolio companies, an increase of more than 1,000 from December and more than double the number a decade ago.

Read more at Industry Week

NY Fed Survey: Service Sector Activity ‘Held Steady’ In August

Business activity held steady in the region's service sector in August, according to firms responding to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Business Leaders Survey. The survey's headline business activity index fell eight points to 0.5.

• The business climate index remained deeply negative at -25.7, with 43 percent of respondents reporting an unfavorable business climate.
• The employment index came in at 2.4, suggesting employment levels moved slightly higher.
• The wages index held steady at 30.7, indicating that wages continued to increase modestly.
• The prices paid index moved up three points to 70.1, signaling a slight uptick in input price increases, while the prices received index held steady at 27.7.
• The supply availability index fell five points to -14.3, indicating that supply availability worsened at a steeper pace than last month.
• The future business climate index declined seventeen points to -16.5, signaling growing pessimism about the future business environment.
• Employment is expected to increase modestly in the months ahead.
• Capital spending plans remained weak.

Read more at The NY Fed

Big Food’s Biggest Challenge: People Who Don’t Want to Eat Anymore

For America’s biggest food makers, winning over GLP-1 users is a whole new challenge - for decades, food companies have relied on a proven playbook: cater to consumers’ taste buds with sugar, salt and a steadily expanding galaxy of flavors. Fine-tuning products to cravings and indulgence has led critics to accuse food makers of hooking consumers on food and snacks the same way nicotine hooks smokers, and fueling an obesity epidemic. As many as 55 million Americans, or 15% of the population, are expected to be on GLP-1 drugs by 2035, according to projections from Morgan Stanley. KPMG estimates users consume about one-fifth fewer calories while on the medications.

Big food companies are already in a tough spot. Consumers, squeezed by persistent inflation, are tightening their purse strings. Some have been turning away from processed foods, shifting to fresher fare on store perimeters. Others are gravitating toward premium alternatives from smaller companies, or cheaper store brands. General Mills, for example,  has turned to a different source for help understanding GLP-1 users: an AI-powered “digital persona” built from consumer interviews, social insights and sales data that employees quiz through a computer screen.

Read more at The WSJ

Iran and the Middle East

• Trump Threatens Iran With ‘Economic D-Day’ - WSJ
• United Arab Emirates Suspends Trade With Iran After Coming Under Renewed Missile Fire – AP
• France Expels 2 Iranian Diplomats In Escalating Row With Tehran - Politico
• Israel Says Strikes On Syrian Military Airfield Were To Ensure Its Security – France 24
• Israeli Military Launches Criminal Probes Into Killings Of Hind Rajab And Palestinian Paramedics - AP
• Iraq Is Caught Between Washington And Tehran - NPR
• Interactive Map – US and Israeli Attack in Iran – ArcGIS Story Maps
• Map – Conflicts in the Middle East – Live Universal Awareness Map

Ukraine

• Russian Ballistic Missiles Kill 12 In Ukraine's Kyiv, Spark Fires - Reuters
• ‘No And No’: Fedorov’s Wartime Election Call Unsettles Kyiv – CNN
• A Warehouse Burns Near Moscow. In Ukraine, Drone Crews Prepare To Strike Again - AP
• Ukraine's Parliament Approves Yevhenii Khmara As New Defence Minister - Reuters
• Zelenskyy Fires A Top Aide Amid A Graft Probe - AP
• Can Ukraine Hold Elections While At War? - Reuters
• Interactive Map: Assessed Control Of Terrain In Ukraine – Institute For The Study Of War
• Map – Tracking Russia’s Invasion Of Ukraine – Live Universal Awareness Map

Other World Headlines

• Trump Warns North Korea Has ’57 Very Powerful Nuclear Weapons’– The Hill
• The Cascade of Dysfunction That Helped Doom Jason Arday – The Dispatch
• China Evergrande Founder Sentenced To Life In Prison - Reuters
• China Completes First Stage Of Work At Disputed South China Sea Reef, Images Show - Reuters
• ‘We Won’t Go Back’: Young Moroccan Migrants In Ceuta Refuse To Abandon Their European Dream – France 24
• Archeologists Find Pre-Inca Human Offering Remains At Ceremonial Site In Peru’s Capital - AP
• US Oil Producers Set To Ink Production Deals With Venezuela - Politico
• Jump In Energy Bills Drives UK Inflation To Highest Rate For Four Months - BBC
• The Lakers Heiress at the Center of the NBA’s Nastiest Succession Drama – Reuters

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Fed Officials Saw Need For Rate Hike If Inflation Doesn’t Cool, Minutes Show

Federal Reserve officials indicated at their last meeting that they would need to raise interest rates soon unless there was more progress on bringing down inflation, minutes released Wednesday showed. “Some participants commented that financial conditions might not currently be sufficiently restrictive to facilitate a return of inflation to 2 percent,” stated the summary of the meeting, held July 28-29. Ultimately, the Federal Open Market Committee voted 9-3 to keep the federal funds rate targeted in a range between 3.5%-3.75%, where it has been all year. The overnight borrowing rate serves as a guidepost for a variety of consumer debt including mortgages, credit cards and auto loans.

Since the July meeting, data releases mostly have shown modest price increases on a monthly basis, though the major indicators all have inflation well above the Fed’s 2% target. The central bank’s primary forecasting data point, the personal consumption expenditures price index, actually saw a 0.1% decline for June, though the annual rate was still at 3.7%. At the same time, the employment picture has softened.

Read more at The WSJ

Bond Yields Dive After Bessent Steps Up Buybacks

The Treasury Department on Wednesday said it will more than double the size of its government debt repurchases, sending yields sharply lower at a time of substantial market stress. With fixed income markets under pressure and yields surging to levels not seen in nearly 20 years, the announcement targets the sensitive longer-duration part of the Treasury market. Yields cratered following the announcement while stock market futures rose sharply.

Under the accelerated buyback, Treasury, led by Secretary Scott Bessent, will target the 10- to 20-year and 20- to 30-year portion of the market, which has seen a buyers’ strike since late June. The government will “at least double” the maximum size of its buyback operations, from $2 billion to “at least” $4 billion, according to an announcement from the department. The benchmark 10-year note fell 6 basis points to 4.647% and the 30-year “long” bond tumbled 9 basis point to 5.196%. A basis point equals 0.01%. Yields and prices move in opposite directions.

Read more at CNBC

Trump Urges Congress To Pass The Clarity Act To Establish Rules For Cryptocurrency

President Donald Trump convened leaders of the crypto industry and their regulators to the White House on Wednesday, where he praised them for “ensuring that the future of commercial markets is pioneered and perfected right here in the USA” and encouraged Senate lawmakers to pass the Clarity Act. “We’re ensuring that America remains the undisputed leader, not only in Bitcoin and crypto, but also technologies like prediction markets, artificial intelligence and much more,” the president said at an event where he was joined by the leaders of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the New York Stock Exchange, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the cryptocurrency exchanges Coinbase, Kraken and Robinhood.

The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act is a comprehensive U.S. legislative framework aimed at establishing clear statutory rules for the cryptocurrency industry, according to Congress.gov. Its primary goal is to end the Securities and Exchange Commission’s regulation through enforcement by establishing exactly which digital assets are securities and not commodities. The bill includes consumer protections that include about $150 million for anti-fraud measures and the imposition of resale restrictions on insiders to stop so-called “pump-and-dump” schemes.

Read more at Spectrum

November Election Headlines

• Florida Democratic Socialist Nixon Wins Democratic Senate Primary - Reuters
• Key Florida Takeaways: A Socialist Upset and Far-Right Flops - WSJ
• Five Takeaways From Tuesday's Primaries In Florida And Alaska - Reuters
• 2028 Democrats Are Hitting Up New Mexico’s Governor. Here’s What She’s Saying. - Politico
• El-Sayed Leads Rogers By 7 Points In New Michigan Senate Poll – The Hill
• Real Clear Politics Generic Congressional Vote Poll Average – Real Clear Politics
• 2026 Senate Election Forecasts – 270 to Win

More Policy and Politics Headlines

• U.S. Debt Just Topped $40 Trillion: How We Got Here - WSJ
• Trump Says He Will Meet With North Korea's Kim Jong Un – Politico
• Trump Picks Dr. Heidi Overton, A Top White House Aide, To Lead The Food And Drug Administration - AP
• US Announces New Sanctions On Top ICC Figures -BBC
• Former Fauci Adviser Pleads Guilty In US To Conspiring To Conceal COVID-19 Records - Reuters
• Border Construction in Big Bend Is Halted After Drawing Criticism - NYT
• Scorecard Ranks How N.Y. Lawmakers Voted On Environmental Bills – NY State Of Politics
• New Images Show Moon Crater Carved By SpaceX Rocket - AP
• Spared Execution Eight Times, Oldest Inmate In US Dies At 101 — BBC

Moderna and Merck Say mRNA Cancer Vaccine Succeeded In Late-Stage Melanoma Trial

An experimental personalized cancer vaccine from Merck and Moderna showed positive initial results in its first-ever late-stage trial, the companies announced Wednesday, bringing them one step closer to filing for approval of the treatment option. The mRNA-based shot in combination with Merck’s immunotherapy Keytruda met key goals in the phase three trial in more than 1,100 patients with higher-risk or advanced melanoma whose detectable cancer had been completely removed through surgery.

The combination regimen met the main study goal of significantly extending the time patients lived without their melanoma returning, compared with Keytruda alone. The treatment also reduced the risk of the cancer spreading to distant parts of the body. Those results build on positive phase two trial data on the same regimen earlier this year. The initial data suggests that the combo could serve as a new treatment option for melanoma, which accounts for only about 1% of skin cancers but causes the large majority of deaths among them. Most recurrences of melanoma develop in the first two to three years after initial treatment and removal.

Read more at CNBC 

Upcoming Council Programs

Events

SOLD OUT! Council of Industry Golf Outing - Monday August 24th 11:30 AM - 7:30 PM. The Powelton Club, Newburgh.

Insight Exchange - On Demand Webinars

The Orange County Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ): Duty Elimination, Reduction Deferral - Presented by Steve Gross, Orange County Economic Development

C3POA - Key Perpectives on your CMMC Compiance Journey - Presented by Nick DeLena, PKF O'Connor Davies.

CMMC for Legacy Equipment: Securing Specialized Assets with Zero Trust Micro-Enclaves - Presented by Marc Hoover, Trout Software.

See previous episodes here!

Training

Certificate in Manufacturing Leadership (CML), In Person at Orange Community College , Newburgh.  Sept 16 - Dec 9. 8:30 - 4:30. (7 Courses)

Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt, In Person at DCC Fishkill.  October 13, 14, and 15. 8:30 - 4:30.

Trade Wars

• Trump Pauses Tariffs On Canadian Imports, Carney Says Key Work Remains – Reuters
• U.S. Eyes Lower Tariffs on Metals and Autos in Canada Trade Deal - WSJ
• Nearly 60 Members Of Congress Call For Aluminum Pricing Investigation – Supply Chain Dive
• Trump Touted A Deal To Avert New Tariffs On Canada. Here’s What We Know So Far - CNBC
• UK ‘Open To Discussing’ Digital Services Tax With Trump Administration –WSJ

Bristol Myers Squibb to Build $2.3B Manufacturing Campus In Houston

Bristol Myers Squibb will invest $2.3 billion to build a high-tech medicine manufacturing campus in Houston as part of a larger domestic growth strategy, the New Jersey-based company said Aug. 10. The 600,000-square-foot campus will allow Bristol Myers Squibb to produce small molecules, biologics and antibody-drug conjugates for a range of diseases, and enough flexibility to reconfigure capacity in the future, according to a news release. It also will create about 500 jobs, such as technicians, production specialists, quality control and site leadership.

The project, slated for Generation Park in Houston, is part of Bristol Myers Squibb’s larger plan to invest $40 billion in the United States through 2030 across research and development, technology and domestic manufacturing. The company said it designed the Houston campus to be modular and multimodal, allowing for flexibility as demand shifts to certain medicines over others. It also has room for future advances in digital integration and automation, allowing the site to grow while remaining competitive.

Read more at Manufacturing Dive

Amazon Is Planning To Expand Drone Delivery To Nearly 500 U.S. Cities By Year's End

Amazon announced plans Wednesday to expand its Prime Air drone delivery service to nearly 500 cities and towns across the United States by the end of 2026, a sixfold increase from its current footprint. The company said Prime Air currently operates in 11 metro areas across seven states — Arizona, Florida, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Nebraska, and Texas — with each site covering approximately 175 square miles. The service is set to launch in the Chicago, Atlanta, Cleveland, Syracuse, and Boise metro areas soon, with additional locations to follow. Amazon said it has made hundreds of thousands of drone deliveries so far this year, with thousands completed daily.

Prime Air drones are rated for packages up to 5 pounds, a threshold the company said covers more than 60% of its most commonly ordered products. Eligible products include groceries, medications, electronics, and cosmetics. Deliveries can reach customers in as little as 30 minutes, though the typical window runs to about an hour from the time of purchase, the company said. "By the end of 2026 we plan to reach customers in nearly 500 cities and towns," David Carbon, vice president of Amazon Prime Air, said in a statement.

Read more at Quartz

GE, Philips and Shell Suffer Cybersecurity Breaches

BleepingComputer reported Wednesday that some of the tools used by the Clop ransomware gang were specifically designed to breach PTC Windchill and FlexPLM servers, based on detailed knowledge of Windchill's functionalities. Ensar Seker, chief information security officer (CISO) at cybersecurity company SOCRadar, wants observers to be clear about two important complications. “First, there is evidence that attackers were exploiting these PTC environments before defenders had the full benefit of the public warning and remediation process.

Second, “a patch was released” does not necessarily mean that every version of a complex enterprise platform could immediately receive the same patch. PTC’s remediation was released in stages across different Windchill and FlexPLM versions. Large manufacturers can also have many instances, different versions, integrations with engineering and manufacturing systems, and strict testing and availability requirements. Knowing about a vulnerability and safely remediating every affected instance across a global enterprise are two different problems.

Read more at IndustryWeek

Panama Canal Continues Draft Restrictions, Ocean Carriers Up Fees

The Panama Canal has been implementing water-saving measures to prepare for potential weather impacts from the looming El Niño climate pattern expected in the second half of 2026. A drought hit the canal in 2023 and 2024 leading to longer transit times and higher transit fees. In its latest draft adjustment, the major waterway announced that the maximum authorized draft for vessels transiting the Neopanamax locks will be 48 feet, effective Aug. 26. The next draft is set at 47.5 feet, effective Sept. 3.

The Panama Canal had already implemented two separate draft measures earlier this summer. “These reductions represent the fourth and fifth draft adjustments announced by the Panama Canal Authority. The measures are the result of operational planning informed by lessons learned during the 2023–2024 period, as well as hydrological analyses and historical data that support the canal’s operational decision-making process,” according to a press release from the Panama Canal. Due to the ongoing draft restriction, ocean carriers have recently updated their previous Panama Canal surcharges.

Read more at Supply Chain Dive

The Cast-Iron Company That Has Been Controlled by the Same Family for 130 Years

On a humid June weekend, three generations of Lodges descended on a Westin here. Family members, now also bearing surnames like Kellermann, Millhiser and Richards, had flown and driven in from all around the country. There was the high-school fencing coach from New Jersey and the aerospace engineer from Washington. There was a 2-year-old toddler, the youngest of the reunion attendees, and an 88-year-old who joined for multiple scheduled events, including a ride up a mountain in a funicular railway.

This wasn’t a typical family reunion. The gathering coincided with the annual shareholder meeting of the Lodge Cast Iron pan company, which has been melting pig iron and recycled steel to form cast iron pans for 130 years. Each year, dozens of Lodges return to Tennessee. The 70 family shareholders come back for the company’s annual meeting; the extended family, every five years on the company’s dime. At the recent gathering, family members wore nametags detailing their generation and family branch. Shareholders re-elected three board members. There was a tour of the foundry and museum, and a murder-mystery scavenger hunt.

Read more at The WSJ

Retail Earnings of Note

Target on Wednesday posted quarterly earnings that were boosted by tariff refunds and raised its full-year guidance, as the retailer shows more signs its turnaround is taking hold. The company said net sales climbed 5.3% from the year prior. Comparable sales grew 3.8%, topping Wall Street estimates of 2.4%. Target said it saw “broad-based” strength across categories. Second-quarter results also included a $752 million boost to net earnings, or $1.65 per share, from tariff refunds. The company said its second-quarter gross margin and operating income included a $994 million pretax benefit from that repayment. Target hiked its full fiscal-year outlook, due to both stronger sales trends and the one-time boost to its bottom line. The retailer raised its full-year net sales growth guidance to about 5%, up by 1 percentage point. CNBC

Home Depot on Tuesday reported fiscal second-quarter results that beat Wall Street expectations on the top and bottom lines and reaffirmed its full fiscal-year guidance. Earnings per share were $4.92 adjusted vs. $4.73 expected and revenue was $47.86 billion vs. $47.27 billion expected. The home improvement retailer reported net income of $4.77 billion, or $4.79 per share, compared with $4.55 billion, or $4.58 per share, the year prior. Excluding one-time items, Home Depot reported adjusted earnings per share of $4.92. Revenue rose 5.7% to $47.86 billion. Home Depot also reaffirmed its fiscal 2026 guidance, which it said includes tariff refunds that are “expected to partially offset unplanned fuel, energy, and other product input costs.” McPhail added that the tariff refunds allow the retailer to “maintain value” despite cost pressures in other areas. - CNBC

Lowe’s trimmed its full-year sales and profit targets, signaling that price-conscious homeowners are delaying major renovations and compounding back-half headwinds. second quarter where sales grew 8.4% to $25.96 billion, but came in shy of analyst projections of a rise to $26.13 billion, as weakness in the DIY category continued to limit overall growth. Comparable sales for the quarter increased 0.2%, driven by the Lowe’s Pro and home services sales, as well as a nearly 16% increase in online sales, partially offset by persistent DIY macro pressures. Net income of $2.4 billion, or $4.27 a share, was unchanged from the same quarter a year ago. Adjusted earnings were $4.40 a share. The home-improvement retailer lowered its 2026 outlook and now expects 2026 sales of $92 billion, anchoring the bottom of its former target range of $92 billion to $94 billion, and below analyst forecasts. The company also projects flat comparable-store sales compared with previous forecasts of flat to 2% growth. - WSJ

Big Ass Fans Maker To Acquire Ebm-Papst For $5.4B

Madison Air Solutions reached an agreement on Monday to acquire Germany-based HVAC company Ebm-Papst for $5.4 billion. The acquisition will extend the reach of Madison Air’s commercial segment. Ebm-Papst is anticipated to make about $2.8 billion in revenue and about $343 million in adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization in 2026. The fan maker will use cash, debt and equity financing to complete the Ebm-Papst transaction, which is expected to close at the end of the year.

Madison Air serves 15 end markets worldwide, including data centers, hospitals and health care, life sciences, semiconductor chip fabs and power generation systems, Wyant said in a July 30 earnings call. The semiconductor industry is one example where Madison Air can increase its business and footprint.  Its HVAC brand, Nortek Air Solutions, currently uses design assistance software to help operators seal grids, filtrate and recirculate, and use air handling systems to keep chip fabs ultra clean.

Read more at Manufacturing Dive

Stellantis Confirms Next-Gen Jeep Cherokee Will Be Built At Belvidere Plant

Jeep parent Stellantis announced that the next-generation Cherokee SUV will be the first U.S. market vehicle built on the automaker’s new STLA One platform, the company announced in an Aug. 14 press release. It’s set to be built at its Belvidere, Illinois, assembly plant. Pilot production of the next-gen Cherokee is expected to begin in the first half of 2028, with series production targeted for the second half of 2029. Stellantis expects to assemble a minimum of two vehicles on its STLA One architecture at the factory, which has been idle since February 2023 after the fifth-generation Jeep Cherokee was discontinued.

To prepare for the launch of the new Jeep Cherokee, Stellantis expects to boost its investment in Belvidere to more than $800 million, up from the $600 million the company previously announced in October 2025. It’s part of a larger $13 billion commitment to expand its U.S. manufacturing capacity. The modular STLA One global vehicle architecture is designed to shorten time to market, strengthen supplier stability and improve cost efficiency up to 20%, per Stellantis. It brings together five different Stellantis platforms into a single, scalable version offering reduced complexity and expanded coverage across global B, C and D segment vehicles.

Read more at Ward’s Auto

Hochul Wants To Build More Nuclear Power Than The U.S. Has In 30 Years

Governor Kathy Hochul has set New York on course to build more new nuclear capacity in the next decade than the entire country has added in the last thirty years — 5 gigawatts, enough to power nearly 4 million homes — betting on a technology with a well‑documented history of blown budgets and years‑long delays, according to a report by Ezra Bitterman in the Times Union. Leaders of the state’s initiative are evaluating what type of nuclear technology is the best choice for upstate, either the traditional large reactors, as the state already has, or SMRs.

In recent remarks, Hochul said she feels good about how the nuclear initiative is progressing, especially amid concerns about high energy prices. “I’m very focused on creating more power,” she said. “Nuclear is a cornerstone of it.” Despite all of the momentum behind adding nuclear power, not everyone wants to see the project come to fruition. Anti-nuclear activists see more nuclear energy as costly and a threat to the environment.

Read more at The Times Union

Daily Market Update August 19, 2026

The September ’26 natural gas contract is trading up $0.07 at $2.85. The September ‘26 crude oil contract is up $0.26 at $85.20 

Read more at NRG

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Quote of the Day

“It is by logic that we prove, but by intuition that we discover.”

Henri Poincaré - French President and Prime Minister who was born on this day in 1860.

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