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February Home Sales Rose After Mortgage Rates Eased
Home sales rose in February, rebounding after a big drop the previous month as buyers seized on falling mortgage rates. Sales of existing homes increased 1.7% in February from the prior month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.09 million, the National Association of Realtors said Tuesday. “The increase was driven by continuing improvement in affordability,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist. “During the spring home-buying season, we do have more buyers kicking the tires, visiting open houses.”
Mortgage rates slipped below 6% in late February for the first time since 2022, a key psychological threshold that real-estate agents and lenders hoped would bring more buyers into the market during the key spring selling season. The decline helped boost the market heading into the crucial spring selling season. The increase in home sales marked a turnaround after revised January home sales tumbled around 6%.
Read more at the WSJ
China Exports Surge In February
China’s trade surplus rose to its highest on record in the combined January-February period, while exports massively beat expectations, underscoring the resilience of the world’s second-largest economy despite trade tensions with the U.S. China typically combines January and February trade data to smooth distortions from the shifting Lunar New Year holiday. The trade balance surged to $213.62 billion, compared with expectations of $179.6 billion.
Exports from China rose 21.8% year on year in the combined January-February period, beating the 7.1% growth expected by economists polled by Reuters. Imports rose 19.8% in the first two months from a year earlier, against expectations of a 6.3% growth, customs data showed Wednesday. Government data showed that while trade with the U.S. plunged 16.9% to 609.71 billion yuan ($88.22 billion) compared with the same period the year before, trade with the EU climbed 19.9% to 998.94 billion yuan. Trade with ASEAN also rose 20.3% to reach 1.24 trillion yuan.
Read more at CNBC
GE Aerospace To Invest Another $1B Across US Operations
GE Aerospace on Monday said it plans to invest $1 billion across dozens of U.S. manufacturing sites and supplier operations this year to accelerate engine deliveries, ramp durable parts production and strengthen defense-related output. The 2026 investment will benefit more than 30 communities in 17 states, according to a news release. The Evendale, Ohio-based company made a similar $1 billion investment last year with a focus on improving engine safety, quality and delivery. GE Aerospace is expected to hire 5,000 U.S. workers, including manufacturing and engineering roles, as part of the investment. The Boeing engine supplier said this will be in addition to the 5,000 people it hired in 2025. New York is not among the locations where the company is investing.
Hundreds of millions of dollars will go to sites that manufacture commercial engines and spare parts in an effort to reduce maintenance shop turnaround times, GE Aerospace said on its website. The company has earmarked $200 million for sites that produce high-pressure turbine durability kits, a type of hardware upgrade that improves and sustains jet engine performance. GE Aerospace is also looking to meet growing U.S. military demand. The company said it plans to spend more $275 million upgrading sites that manufacture defense engines and components. This would bring GE’s total investment in defense production to more than $600 million over the past three years.
Read more at Manufacturing Dive
Blue Origin Expands In Florida With $3B Manufacturing Site
Blue Origin is planning a major expansion of its giant Merritt Island campus, according to permitting documents filed with the state. “Project Horizon" will add an 800,000-square-foot manufacturing facility to Merritt Island's Exploration Park, according to documents filed with the St. Johns Water Management District on Feb. 24. “When you see the industry growth, it really is something of a flywheel, and companies have come to Florida and recognize the benefits of being on the Space Coast, and typically as they arrive, they want to grow and expand,” Space Florida Chief Executive Officer Rob Long explains.
A different state permit was filed in November 2025 to build an orbital launch system manufacturing complex on the same parcel of land. But the current permit application indicates a completely different plant is now in the works. Permitting applications show the project is being planned for development just south of Blue Origin's main buildings at 8082 Space Commerce Way on land that is currently being leased by Space Florida, which is listed as a co-applicant on the documents.
Read more at Spectrum News
SK Battery America Lays Off Nearly One Third Of Workers At Georgia Plant
SK Battery America, a subsidiary of South Korea-based SK On, is laying off hundreds of workers from its production facility in Commerce, Georgia, as electric vehicle battery demand slows and federal incentives dry up. The producer of Nickel-Cobalt-Manganese lithium-ion battery cells filed a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification on Friday, notifying Georgia of job cuts affecting 958 people. The company also notified impacted workers that they will receive pay and benefits for the next 60 days, a spokesperson confirmed to Manufacturing Dive via email. Friday, March 6, was their last day of work.
“SK Battery America remains committed to Georgia and to building a robust U.S. supply chain for advanced battery manufacturing,” the company said in a statement. The changes come as the electric vehicle battery industry navigates demand challenges. Many automakers and battery companies are making cutbacks in response to slower sales and a pullback of federal incentives under the current administration, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. They are also looking to cater to growing data center demand as customers look for backup power and energy storage systems.
Read more at Ward’s Auto
Pentagon Assembles Rapid-Response 3DP Supply Network
Two dozen U.S. manufacturers will form a network of suppliers for 3D-printed metal and polymer parts, to secure quick-turnaround sourcing for critical defense programs. According to a Pentagon announcement, the Defense Logistics Agency has issued a total of $10 million to two dozen manufacturers as it works to establish a network of suppliers for 3D-printed metal and polymer parts, to secure rapid-turnaround sourcing for “flight safety critical” and “mission essential” components, to improve combat readiness.
The Joint Additive Manufacturing Acceptability (JAMA) IV Pilot Parts Program is a U.S. Department of Defense initiative. The 24 companies assigned are expected to produce and supply components using a range of additive manufacturing technologies, including binder jetting, cold spray processes, fused deposition modeling, directed energy deposition, laser powder bed fusion, and multi-jet fusion. Among the businesses selected are Applied Rapid Technologies Co. Inc., General Electric (Colibrium Additive, DMG MORI Federal Services, American Lightweight Materials Manufacturing Innovation Institute (LIFT Technologies), Nikon AM Synergy Inc., Sintavia LLC, Stratasys Direct Inc., and Velo3D Inc.
Read more at American Machinist
PVC Giant Shintech To Invest $3.4B In Louisiana Expansion
Shintech, the world’s largest producer of polyvinyl chloride, plans to spend $3.4 billion expanding production capacity at its existing facility in Iberville Parish, Louisiana, the company said last week. The project will be done in phases, beginning with construction of a second ethylene unit and a fourth chlor-alkali and vinyl chloride monomer production unit, according to a news release. The first phase is expected to be completed in 2030.
The site expansion is expected to create 163 direct jobs and retain 725 current positions. Louisiana offered an incentives package to secure the project in Plaquemine, including a $23.5 million grant tied to equipment investments and infrastructure improvements. Shintech is also expected to participate in the state’s industrial tax exemption and job creation rebate programs.
Read more at Manufacturing Dive
U.S. New-Car Market Loses Traction Again In February
New car and light-truck sales fell 3.8 percent in February to about 1.18 million units, according to a preliminary report released March 4 by GlobalData and cited by Automotive News. Retail sales dropped 5.6 percent, while fleet deliveries increased 4.5 percent. Analysts attributed the slowdown to several factors, including harsh winter weather, affordability concerns and the expiration of federal tax credits for electric-vehicle purchases.
- Ford Motor Company -U.S. sales fell 5.5 percent. Volume dropped 6.3 percent at the Ford brand but rose 12 percent at Lincoln.
- Toyota Motor Corp. posted stronger results, with U.S. deliveries rising 3.2 percent. Sales increased 3.3 percent at the Toyota brand and 2.5 percent at Lexus.
- Hyundai Motor America and Kia both reported gains in February, driven by strong demand for crossovers and hybrid models. Hyundai sales rose 5.9 percent to 65,677 vehicles, while Kia deliveries increased 4.3 percent to 66,005.
- Volvo - Among luxury brands, Volvo sales fell an estimated 42 percent in February, its second consecutive monthly decline.
Read more at CarPro
Boeing Says Wiring Flaws Could Delay First-Quarter 737 MAX Jet Deliveries
Boeing on Tuesday said first-quarter deliveries of its narrow-body 737 MAX jets could face delays due to wiring flaws, the latest hiccup for the troubled planemaker as CEO Kelly Ortberg looks to improve production quality and the company's reputation. "Our 737 program is performing rework on a group of airplanes to fix wires that have small scratches due to a machining error," Boeing said, adding that production of its new MAX jets continues at the existing rate of 42 jets a month. The announcement comes after company said on Tuesday it had delivered 51 jets in February - the highest total for the month since 2018 and an increase from 46 in January. Deliveries in February included 43 737 MAX jets.
Boeing did not specify if the scratches on the wires were caused by a supplier or the company. The company said it has informed the Federal Aviation Administration and customers. The FAA could not immediately comment. The planemaker said all in-service 737 MAX airplanes can continue to operate safely and that it did not expect the issue to affect the company's goal to deliver about 500 737 jets this year.
Read more at Reuters
Hyundai Power Transformers plans $200M expansion in Ala.
Hyundai Power Transformers USA Friday announced a $200 million expansion of its Montgomery manufacturing operations. The move will create about 200 jobs and significantly increasing the factory’s domestic production capacity for large power transformers. “This expansion reflects our long-term confidence in Montgomery and the State of Alabama,” said Jinho Kang, President of HD Hyundai Power Transformers USA.
The new facility, scheduled to open in mid-2027, will be able to manufacture even larger transformer units in the United States. This comes at a particularly crucial time, the company says, as about 70% of the nation’s large power transformers are currently in need of replacement. Hyundai Power Transformers now supplies more than 15% of large core-type transformers in the U.S.
Read more at AL.com
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