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Trade Wars
Hudson Valley Employment Grows in December, Manufacturing Jobs Dip
The Hudson Valley's private sector job count grew by 1,900, or 0.2 percent, to 847,400 in the year ending December 2025. The largest gains were in private education and health services (+6,600), professional and business services (+1,900) and financial activities (+500). Job losses were centered in mining, logging and construction (-2,300), trade, transportation and utilities (-1,800), other services (-1,200), leisure and hospitality (-1,000), information (-500) and manufacturing (-300). Nevertheless, the pace of job growth has slowed down considerably – up just 0.2 percent year-over-year – its lowest December growth rate since 2020. Only three sectors posted year-over-year job gains, while six posted losses. Private education and health services remained the region’s leading jobs generator, climbing 2.8 percent to 242,600 – its highest December employment count on record (dating back to 2000).
Statewide employment grew by 17,400 or 0.2% in December and by 77,600 or 0.8% year-over-year to a total of 10,093,900. Manufacturing employment fell by -3,500, or -0.8% in December and by -7,600, or -1.8%, year over year to a total of 405,200.
Read the Labor Market Profile
GE Aerospace Ends 2025 On High Note As Engine Demand Surges
GE Aerospace reported double-digit earnings growth in the fourth quarter, driven by robust demand for its commercial and defense engines as it looks to streamline operations. The Evendale, Ohio-based company saw quarterly revenue increase 18% to $12.7 billion over the previous year. It also posted a profit of $2.9 billion during the period, up 24% from a year ago. The engine maker also saw Q4 orders surge 74% to $27 billion, accounting for nearly half of its orders for the whole year. This development came as GE Aerospace worked to simplify its operations and progress through its $190 billion backlog of orders.
Early last year, GE Aerospace formed its Technology & Operations team with the goal of implementing the company’s lean operating model “Flight Deck” to improve product quality and delivery speeds across its engineering, quality, supply chain and manufacturing functions. The new team has helped the company partner with suppliers more effectively, resulting in higher outputs so far, Chairman and CEO H. Lawrence Culp, Jr. said in an earnings call Thursday.
Read more at Manufacturing Dive
Roche’s Genentech More Than Doubles North Carolina Facility Investment To $2B
Genentech, a subsidiary of Roche Group, will more than double its initial investment in an upcoming Holly Springs, North Carolina, biomanufacturing facility to $2 billion, the San Francisco-based company said Tuesday. The additional capital will allow the company to increase production volume and scale capacity within the facility, as well as create a total of 500 local manufacturing jobs, according to a news release. The plant is set to be operational by 2029.
Genentech initially pledged $700 million last year to build the Holly Springs factory, its first on the East Coast. The location is designed to produce weight-loss treatments and other metabolic medicines. Construction on the project began in August. The expansion is part of a broader $50 billion commitment from Genentech and Roche to improve their U.S. operational footprint. Pharmaceutical giants such as Lilly and Johnson & Johnson have made similar pledges over the next five years in response to shifting customer demand as the Trump administration’s tariffs disrupt supply chains, markets and production.
Read more at Manufacturing Dive
Boeing Tapped for Carrier’s Expansion Plan
Boeing announced its second new order in less than two months from Ethiopian Airlines as the carrier invests to expand its international network. The customer ordered nine 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft, with an estimated value of $2.5 billion at list prices. It’s more proof of the late-2025 surge in bookings that has Boeing on track to top Airbus for new orders for the first time since 2018. This booking follows Ethiopian Airlines’ recent order for 11 737 MAX aircraft, announced in November. That placement has an estimated value of $1.3 billion, based on listed prices.
No delivery schedule has been described for the new Boeing aircraft. Ethiopian Airlines is the largest in Africa, with a current fleet of 168 aircraft that includes 20 787-8s and 10 787-9s, as well as 28 737 MAX-8s. Its routes cover destinations in Africa, Europe, Asia, and North America.
Read more at American Machinist
Amazon Plans Thousands More Corporate Job Cuts This Week, Sources Say
Amazon is planning a second round of job cuts next week as part of its broader goal of trimming some 30,000 corporate workers, according to two people familiar with the matter. The company in October cut some 14,000 white-collar jobs, about half of the 30,000 target first reported by Reuters. The total this time is expected to be roughly the same as last year and could begin as soon as Tuesday, the people said, who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to discuss Amazon’s plans. Jobs in the company's Amazon Web Services, retail, Prime Video and human resources, known as People Experience and Technology, units are slated to be affected, the people said, though the full scope was unclear.
The Seattle online retailer tied the October round of job cuts to the rise of artificial intelligence software, saying in an internal letter that “this generation of AI is the most transformative technology we’ve seen since the Internet, and it’s enabling companies to innovate much faster than ever before.” CEO Andy Jassy had said earlier in 2025 that he expected Amazon’s corporate workforce to shrink over time as a result of efficiencies gained from the use of AI.
Read more at Reuters
Intel Earnings Guidance: Manufacturing Troubles Overshadow Earnings Beat
Intel shares plunged Friday after the chipmaker issued lackluster guidance and warned of a supply shortage. During a fourth-quarter earnings call with analysts on Thursday, CEO Lip-Bu Tan said the company wouldn’t be able to meet full demand for its products. He said production efficiency, or yield, is also below his targets. The chipmaker expects first-quarter revenue to range between $11.7 billion and $12.7 billion, and breakeven adjusted earnings per share. That was below LSEG expectations for earnings of 5 cents per share and $12.51 billion in revenue.
The company’s foundry business has long underperformed competitors, which are profiting massively off of the data center artificial intelligence boom. Investors were looking for clarity on foundry customers as the next momentum mover for the stock. The company’s foundry business creates chips for other companies. CFO David Zinsner told CNBC that Intel expects customers for its next-generation 14A technology to appear in the second half of the year. But analysts at RBC Capital Markets warned that a “meaningful revenue contribution” from 14A customers may not pop up until late 2028.
Read more at CNBC
BM Strengthens Its Quantum Computing Platform with Qiskit v2.3
IBM recently released Qiskit v2.3, the latest update to its open-source quantum computing software. The new version is designed to make quantum computing faster, more flexible, and easier to combine with today’s powerful classical computers. In particular, the update improves Qiskit’s ability to work inside high-performance computing environments to help bridge the gap between current systems and future quantum machines.
One of the biggest upgrades is the expansion of Qiskit’s C-based tools, which allows developers to customize how quantum circuits are optimized. At the same time, IBM improved how Qiskit matches circuits to quantum hardware, which speeds up setup and improves accuracy. The release also adds a new way to measure multiple qubits at once, an important feature for more advanced quantum techniques. Finally, IBM’s Qiskit v2.3 moves the platform closer to fault-tolerant quantum computing (the ability of a quantum computer to operate reliably). Indeed, the update includes better tools to simplify circuits, cut down on costly operations, and prepare programs for next-generation quantum hardware. IBM has changed key parts of Qiskit to the faster Rust programming language, which may cause minor short-term slowdowns but should deliver major performance benefits over time.
Read more at Tipranks
Defense Industry Flummoxed By Trump’s Executive Order On Profits
Defense contractors are perplexed by President Trump administration’s executive order outlining vague new rules for its weapons suppliers, unsure how to proceed and raising questions about its legality. The executive order — echoing recent speeches delivered by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent — rebukes defense firms for stock buybacks, paying dividends to investors and high compensation for CEOs, rather than using profits to invest in plant capacity.
But while defense experts and company executives agree more could be done to bolster the defense supply chain, they argue the executive order is legally questionable and lacking a clear roadmap on the path forward to do so. “If you’re trying to encourage more companies to get involved and be suppliers to the DOD, this is not the best way to do that,” one defense industry lobbyist told The Hill, referring to the Department of Defense. “Companies may not want to do business with DOD if they are subject to this. Plus, obviously it’s not legally enforceable to stop dividends and cap pay, so how do you enforce that?”
Read more at The Hill
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