Fed ‘Beige Book’ Report Points to Positive Economic Outlook, Stable Employment

U.S. economic activity rose a bit, prices continued to increase and employment levels were stable in recent weeks, the Federal Reserve said on Wednesday in a report that also captured the upheaval to businesses and workers in Minnesota from the Trump administration's immigration crackdown. "Overall, economic expectations were optimistic, with most (Fed) ‌districts expecting slight to moderate growth in the coming months," the U.S. central bank said in its latest "Beige Book" report, a roundup of qualitative economic data from across the country including ‌surveys of and interviews with business leaders and community organizations.

"Overall, economic expectations were optimistic, with most (Fed) ‌districts expecting slight to moderate growth in the coming months," the U.S. central bank said in its latest "Beige Book" report, a roundup of qualitative economic data from across the country including ‌surveys of and interviews with business leaders and community organizations. It paints a picture of an economy that has been more resilient than expected in the face of the constraints of policies rolled out by the Trump administration, including import levies that continue to push up prices and an immigration crackdown that's hurting labor supply and, in some places like Minneapolis, consumer demand.

Read more at Yahoo Finance

ISM Services Signals Broad Improvement in Demand Conditions

The ISM Services Index rose to 56.1, or the highest index reading in three and a half years in February (chart). The report was good all around—activity broadened across most industries with demand conditions improving (chart); price pressure is still high but not worsening, and some comments referred to increasing employment.

Nearly all industries reported an improvement in current conditions, with the business activity index rising to 59.9. The retail industry was the only industry that reported a drop in current activity. It also reported a decline in new orders and employment in February, signaling a cooling in retail spending after a sturdy holiday season followed by a strong January. The new orders index rose further into expansion territory with 15 industries reporting increased demand last month. The labor backdrop also improved marginally with the index rising to 51.8. Hiring conditions still appear mixed across industries, but one respondent comment included pointing to an expected improvement in activity boosting hiring.

Read more at Wells Fargo

Global Steel Output Showed Improvement In January But The Big Picture Reveals Weak Demand

Global steel production totaled 147.3 million metric tons during the first full month of 2026, a 5.2% improvement over the December 2025 result - the highest monthly output since July 2025 and the first month-to-month increase since October, according to the World Steel Assn. Even so, the January output is still -6.5% less than the January 2025 total. Annual steel production totals have fallen for four consecutive years, mainly due to weak demand in manufacturing and construction activities that have been weakened by multiple factors, such as inflation and high interest rates, higher energy costs, and regional conflicts.

• Last October World Steel’s forecast group projected that 2026 global steel consumption would rise only slightly from 2025 consumption to 1.77 billion metric tons.
• The introduction of U.S. tariffs on steel imports has strengthened the U.S. industry, lifting it from fourth to third in World Steel’s ranking of global producer nations. U.S. steel tonnage rose 2.8% from December to 7.1 million metric tons in January, 3.3% more than the January 2025 result.
• China remains by far the world's largest steel-producing nation, and the 75.3 million metric tons produced there in January represents over 51% of the world’s total output last month. More important, while the new figure is a 9.4% improvement over December, it is also -13.9% less than the January 2025 total.
• Indian steelmakers produced 15.1 million metric tons of raw steel during January, 2.0% more than in December and 10.5% more than in January 2025.

Read more at American Machinist

Iran and the Middle East

• War Widens As Iran Says US Will 'Bitterly Regret' Sinking Ship – Reuters Live Updates
• See the Strait of Hormuz Shutting Down - WSJ
• Iran's Revolutionary Guards Take Wartime Lead, Ensuring Harder Line, Sources Say - Reuters
• White House Says US Ground Troops Aren’t Currently ‘Part Of The Plan’ For Iran Operation - AP
• NATO Intercepts Iranian Missile Headed Toward Turkey - Politico
• Country By Country, Here’s How The Unfolding War Is Affecting The Middle East And Beyond - AP
• Inside the Operation That Killed Khamenei - WSJ
• Europe Braces As Iran Threatens To Attack - Politico
• U.S. Sank Iranian Warship With Submarine Torpedo, Hegseth Says - WSJ
• Video Of US Torpedo Hitting Iranian Warship Released By Pentagon - BBC
• US Treasury Secretary Bessent Accuses Spain Of Putting ‘American Lives At Risk’ - Politico
• Interactive Map – US and Israeli Attack in Iran – ArcGIS Story Maps
• Map – Conflicts in the Middle East – Live Universal Awareness Map

Ukraine

• Russia-Ukraine Talks Planned For Abu Dhabi This Week May Change Venue, Zelenskyy Says - AP
• Putin Says Russia to Weigh Redirecting Gas Supplies Away From EU – Bloomberg
• Russian Oil Tanker On Fire In Mediterranean ‘After Drone Attack’ – The Independent
• Russia Is Big Winner as Iran War Drains Supplies That Ukraine Needs - WSJ
• Russia Blames Ukrainian Naval Drones As Tanker Sinks In Mediterranean - BBC
• Why is Russia not coming to Tehran's aid? - DW
• 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

• China's NPC: What To Watch As Xi Jinping Maps Out Next 5 Years – Nikkei Asia
• China Ramps Up 'High Stakes' Tech Race With US As Economic Imbalances Deepen - Reuters
• From Ukraine To Iran, Kamikaze Drones Are Becoming Indispensable To Modern Warfare – France 24
• Can China’s Roaring Trade Engine Power The Yuan’s Challenge To The US Dollar? - SCMP
• Greek Court Upholds Convictions Of Leaders Of Neo-Nazi Party - DW
• Claims Of ‘Rediscovered’ Michelangelo has Unsettled Renaissance Experts - AP
• Millions Left Without Power After Major Blackout Hits Cuba’s Western Region - AP
• China sets GDP growth target of 4.5%-5% for 2026 – SCMP

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Siena Poll – Hochul Leads Blakeman by 20 Points. Voters Support Allowing NYC to Tax High Earners.

By a 54-29% margin, New York State voters support the Governor and Legislature allowing New York City to raise personal income taxes on City residents earning at least $1 million. New York City voters, 62-21%, and Democrats, 72-13%, overwhelmingly support it. Governor Kathy Hochul continues to lead Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, still largely unknown to voters statewide, by 20 points, 51-31%, from 26 points, 54-28%, in January. Here are some more Poll Highlights:

• Hochul’s favorability rating is 46-42%, down a little from 49-40% in January. Her job approval rating is 53-41%, virtually unchanged from 54-41% in January.
• Blakeman has a 21-18% favorability rating, up a little from 18-20% in January.
• Still, 61% of New Yorkers have either never heard of Blakeman or have no opinion about him.
• Democrats still lead on the generic congressional ballot, 53-32%, but it’s tightened a little since January when Democrats had a 27-point lead, 56-29%. 81% of Democrats support a Democrat for Congress, 86% of Republicans support a Republican, and independents narrowly favor Democrats, 38-31%, down from 46-29%.

Read more at Siena University

Employee Health Insurance, Utilities, And Business Insurance Driving Rising Business Costs In The Region

After a period of moderating cost increases, businesses faced mounting cost pressures in 2025. While tariffs played a role in driving up the costs of many inputs—especially among manufacturers—they represent only part of the story. Indeed, firms grappled with substantial cost increases across many categories in the past year. The NY Fed has analyzed cost and price dynamics among businesses in the New York-Northern New Jersey region based on data collected through thethier regional business surveys. Firms reported that the sharpest cost increases over the past year were for employee health insurance and utilities, followed by business insurance, and goods and materials inputs. Firms expect cost growth to moderate in 2026.

Businesses reported that the pace of cost increases picked up significantly in 2025 compared to the previous two years, especially among manufacturers. Indeed, cost increases were reported to be about 5 percent in 2024, on average, among both types of firms in our surveys. However, costs rose by about 7 percent among service firms in 2025—an increase of 1.7 percentage points—and by 8.5 percent among manufacturers—an increase of 3.6 percentage points.

Read more at The NY Fed

EPA Delays Greenhouse Gas Reporting As It Moves To Shut Down Program

The U.S. EPA on Friday extended the deadline for major industrial sources of greenhouse gas emissions to report their 2025 totals to the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program. The move pushes back the March 31 deadline to Oct. 30, by which time the agency may have finalized a rule removing the obligation to report such emissions at all for most categories of facilities. The Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program was created in response to a congressional mandate in 2008 and began collecting data in 2010. Over time, it has grown to include 47 categories of facilities, including power plants, refineries, chemicals manufacturing, electronics manufacturing, pulp and paper manufacturing and waste disposal.

In September, the agency proposed revisions to the program that would permanently remove reporting obligations for all but one source category, petroleum and natural gas systems, which the EPA still must collect due to a provision of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. It proposed pushing back the start of reporting requirements for that remaining category to 2034. The agency said the data collection effort was unnecessary and burdensome to reporting entities. Ending reporting requirements would save American businesses at least $303 million annually, according to the proposal.

Read more at Manufacturing Dive

More Policy and Politics Headlines

• Senate Republicans Defeat Measure To Halt Iran Strikes – The Hill
• Talarico Triumphs, Cornyn-Paxton Face Off: 5 Questions After Texas Senate Primaries – The Hill
• Trump Says He Will Endorse ‘Soon’ In Texas GOP Senate Primary — And He Wants The Other Guy To Drop Out - Politico
• Rep. Dan Crenshaw Ousted By Primary Challenger To His Right - Politico
• Takeaways From The First Elections Of The 2026 Midterm Campaigns - AP
• Brussels Says Its ‘Made In Europe’ Act Is Ready For Prime Time. Here’s Why It Isn’t. - Politico
• Defense Tech Companies Are Dropping Claude After Pentagon’s Anthropic Blacklist - CNBC
• US Interior Secretary Is In Venezuela To Discuss Critical Minerals - AP
• RFK Jr. Puts Dunkin’ On Notice; Massachusetts Governor Says ‘Come And Take It’ – The Hill
• Trump Officially Nominates Kevin Warsh As Fed Chair To Replace Jerome Powell – CNBC

There Might Be 3 Different Types Of ADHD, New Brain Study Suggests

ADHD is diagnosed as a single disorder. But in exam rooms, it rarely looks that simple. Some patients struggle primarily with focus. Others can’t sit still. Still others wrestle with explosive emotions layered onto both. For patients and clinicians alike, that can mean a treatment process that includes trial and error and, at times, frustration, until the right medication is found.

Now, a new brain imaging study, released in late February, suggests that variability may not be random. Researchers from China, the United States, and Australia analyzed scans from 446 children with ADHD. By examining the gray matter—neuron-packed brain tissue essential for information transmission—the team identified three distinct subtypes, each with its own chemical interactions. The findings raise a provocative possibility: ADHD may not be one disorder expressed differently, but an umbrella for several related conditions with different neural signatures.

Read more at National Geographic

Upcoming Council Programs

Events

Manufacturing Champions Award Breakfast - Thursday May 7, 2026 -7:45 - 10:00 AM. West Hills Country Club, Middletown.

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Health & Safety Sub Council Meeting Topic TBD, March 24, 2026, 8:30 - 10:30. Ulster BOCES, iPark 87, Kingston.

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• Demand Response: A tool to reduce your energy costs and earn revenue - Presented by NRG

• See previous episodes here!

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Training

4 SEATS LEFT Lean Six Sigma: Yellow Belt - Yellow Belt is an approach to process improvement that merges the complementary concepts and tools from both Six Sigma and Lean approaches. 3 Full days - March 9,10 & 11 - DCC Fishkill.

Tariff and Trade War Headlines

• Judge Orders Government to Begin Refunding More Than $130 Billion in Tariffs - WSJ
• Spain's Sanchez Defies Trump Trade Threat, Compares Iran War To ‘Russian Roulette’ – France 24
• Federal Court Rejects Trump Administration Attempt To Slow Tariff Refund Process - AP
• Bessent Says Global 15% Tariff Starts This Week, Predicts Trump Duties Will Return To Old Levels Later This Year - CNBC
• Hanjung America Corp. To Build First US Plant In Huntington, Indiana -Plant Services
• China’s Factory Activity Contracts For A Second Month - AP

Why Manufacturers Are Not Seeing Gains from AI

Boston Consulting Group (BCG) says that despite significant spending on AI, many businesses are failing to achieve meaningful returns on investment. The consultancy's report, Supply Chain Planning 2026: Why AI Alone Isn't Enough, examines the primary challenges manufacturers face within their supply chains and considers how AI is influencing these issues. Whilst most organisations make substantial investments in advanced planning systems, relatively few have successfully converted these investments into sustained performance improvements.

Although more than 70% of companies invest in advanced planning systems, 78% of leaders identify inaccurate demand forecasting as their primary challenge. Part of this stems from applying the technology with misaligned priorities. Rather than using AI to address fundamental issues, leaders are layering it onto existing planning systems that demonstrate inefficiency. This approach results in expenditure on tools that may not provide meaningful assistance. Currently, only approximately 20% of organisations report meaningful value gained from AI, and as few as 7% report value from agentic or generative AI usage.

Read more at Manufacturing Digital

GE Vernova Expanding to Fill Electrification Demand

GE Vernova has put forth a capital investment program for its electrification manufacturing plant in Sesto San Giovanni, in northern Italy, to meet increasing global demand for electrification infrastructure. The approximately $30-million project will increase production capacity for bushings, which are critical components for safe and reliable transmission and distribution of electricity. Electrification is one of the operating segments for the General Electric spin-off, together with the Power (gas, nuclear, hydro) and Wind energy businesses.

GE Vernova recently consolidated its one-time Prolec GE joint venture, adding that power and distribution transmission manufacturing capacity to its Electrification business unit, to serve electric grid expansion projects. Electric utilities and energy companies around the world are carrying out grid upgrades and modernizing power networks to meet increasing electricity demand, necessitating more transformer and substation capacity - thus the increasing demand for bushings. GE indicated the expanded capacity at Sesto San Giovanni will add more production lines for advanced dry-type bushings, including Resin Impregnated Paper (RIP) and Resin Impregnated Synthetic (RIS) technologies, covering voltage levels up to 245 kV.

Read more at American Machinist

Broadcom Sees Over $100 Billion In AI Chip Sales By 2027 On Robust Custom Chip Demand

Chip designer Broadcom on Wednesday projected its artificial intelligence chip revenue would exceed $100 billion next year, signaling surging demand for custom ​chips in a market dominated by Nvidia. The company also announced a new ‌share repurchase program of up to $10 billion through the end of the year. Broadcom said its first-quarter revenue rose 29% to $19.31 billion, ​beating analysts' average estimate of $19.18 billion. Its adjusted earnings per share of $2.05 exceeded estimates of $2.03. Its AI revenue more than doubled to $8.4 billion in the quarter ended February 1, driven by demand for ​custom AI accelerators and networking.

The ​company expects second-quarter revenue to be about $22.0 billion, above analysts' average estimate of $20.56 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG. ⁠It projected AI chip revenue of $10.7 billion in the quarter. Broadcom, which supplies semiconductors and infrastructure software, does not typically design entire AI chips itself. Instead, ​it works with clients such as Google to develop their tensor processing units (TPU) and ChatGPT-maker OpenAI on their in-house custom processors.

Read more at Plant Services

Hyundai to Invest $86.7 Billion to Expand Robotics, AI Capabilities Including Plant in Georgia

Hyundai Motor Group said it will invest $86.7 billion through 2030 to become a global leader in robotics and physical artificial intelligence. The plan includes the creation of a dedicated robotics training complex in Georgia. The company said 71% of the investment will target future growth industries and research and development, including robotics, artificial intelligence, electric vehicles, hydrogen and software-defined vehicles. Hyundai described these areas as core pillars of a broader robotics ecosystem.

Hyundai aims to establish mass production capacity for 30,000 robots annually by 2028. Its U.S.-based robotics subsidiary Boston Dynamics produces humanoid robot Atlas and quadruped Spot, while Hyundai Mobis supplies key components. The company plans to build an end-to-end robotics value chain, including product subscriptions, contract manufacturing, dedicated training facilities and AI data-learning infrastructure. A dedicated robotics training complex, the Robot Metaplant Application Center, is planned near its electric vehicle factory in Savannah, Georgia. Hyundai is also considering AI data centers along Korea’s southwestern coast to access renewable electricity from solar and wind power.

Read more at Assembly Magazine

Apple Announces MacBook Neo, Its Most Affordable Laptop Ever

For years, the cheapest way into the Mac lineup was a $999 laptop. On Wednesday, Apple cut that price nearly in half. The company unveiled the MacBook Neo, a colorful, lightweight laptop powered by an iPhone-grade chip that is the company’s most affordable laptop ever. The launch caps a three-day hardware blitz that has already seen refreshes to the iPhone 17e, iPad Air, and the entire MacBook Pro line. Starting at $599, the MacBook Neo is Apple’s first dedicated budget Mac in more than a decade, and its clearest attempt yet to challenge Google Chromebooks and entry-level Windows machines that dominate classrooms and first-time buyer markets.

The laptop features a 13-inch display, a lightweight metal body that comes in at 2.7 pounds, and a colorful finish that gives it a more approachable, consumer-friendly look than the rest of Apple’s notebook lineup. It offers up to 500 nits of brightness — on par with the MacBook Air — along with two USB-C ports and a headphone jack. The base model comes with 256 gigabytes of storage, while a version priced $100 higher doubles that capacity and adds Touch ID. The MacBook Neo goes up for pre-order on Wednesday and will be available starting March 11.

Read more at CNBC

Why Ferrari Is Still Betting On Its EV, Even As Lamborghini Backs Off

Lamborghini has said there is nearly no market for electric supercars. But fellow luxury carmaker Ferrari is pressing ahead with an EV, although it has also downsized its EV plans. The global electrification push has put automakers in every segment in a bind as they try to figure out how invest in the technology favored by some overseas regulators, while pleasing customers who are either skittish or uninterested in EVs.

Ferrari doesn’t have an EV on the market yet, but its first model, called Luce, is expected to be open for orders later this spring. Ferrari has backed off some of its EV ambitions. At its capital markets day in October, the company said it now expects EVs to make up 20% of its sales — cutting a previous target in half. And it’s still going to make internal combustion vehicles, including its famous 12-cylinder engines.

Read more at CNBC

General Mills Factory in Buffalo Hit By Cereal Fire

Local news site WGRZ2 of Buffalo, New York reported March 2 that a General Mills factory in the city caught fire following what local fire crews determined was an equipment malfunction. According to local news, reporters observed smoke coming from the roof of the factory at 9:30am Monday. First responders with Buffalo Fire reported that the fire was under control a little more than an hour later after doing about $10,000 in damages to the facility. The blaze, first responders said, was apparently caused by malfunctioning equipment, which lit “a pile of cereal” on fire.

A General Mills spokesperson responding to WGRZ2 said there were no casualties from the blaze. “This morning, General Mills’ Buffalo plant reported a localized fire. All employees are confirmed safe,” the spokesperson said. “Our internal emergency response team and local fire departments responded, and the fire was promptly extinguished.”

Read more at Plant Services

We 'Totally Would've Done It Differently': Ford CEO On The Failure Of The F-150 Lightning

It turns out that giant EV pickups probably weren't the best products to get batteries in millions of suburban driveways. Ford CEO Jim Farley admitted in a recent interview with Car and Driver that the Blue Oval would have taken a completely different approach, knowing what he knows now. "I totally would've done it differently," said Farley in a response to a question about the F-150's failure to meet anticipated demand. "I mean, look, we didn't know what we didn't know."

The F-150 Lightning was the best-selling electric truck on the market for most of its time in production. It exists. It works and does what a pickup truck is supposed to do. Customers love them. But it failed to become that electric tidal wave that Ford and fans anticipated when it first launched the truck. Ford aggressively ramped up production capacity to meet the demand that it expected out of the Lightning. That was an expensive, complicated process. Eventually, the consumer demand just kind of fizzled until production of the current-gen truck ended in December 2025 (just three years after it first began). Part of the issue was the price. Farley said that Covid proved to be a "false signal" that allowed automakers to sell vehicles at prices "30 to 40% higher" than they could pre-Covid—if you could build it.

Read more Inside EVs

Tech Firms Pledge To Pay For AI Data Centre Power Costs.

At a White House event with President Donald Trump on Wednesday, representatives from several major tech firms signed the "Ratepayer Protection Pledge.” Tech leaders in the room included Google President Ruth Porat, Microsoft President Brad Smith, Meta President Dina Powell McCormick, Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman, Oracle CEO Clay Magouyrk, OpenAI COO Brad Lightcap, and Gwynne Shotwell, the President of SpaceX, which is in the midst of a merger with xAI. Bccording to Trump, the pledge includes five commitments, including:

• Providing or paying for all power generation and electricity needed for their AI projects, including building new power stations;
• Covering the costs of upgrading existing power delivery infrastructure;
• Negotiating separate rate structures with utilities;
• Providing workforce development and jobs in local communities;
• Using their infrastructure to contribute backup power to local grids.

Some companies have already started building their own energy-generating facilities at data centers, and companies like Microsoft have already announced steps to reduce consumer electric bills.

Read more at Business Insider

Daily Market Update March 4, 2026

The Apr ’26 natural gas contract is trading down $0.10 at $2.954. The Apr ‘26 crude oil contract is up $0.29 at $74.85. 

Read more at NRG

Learn more about the Council of Industry Energy Buying Group

Quote of the Day

“Quantity has a quality all its own.”

 Joseph Stalin - Soviet General Secretary who died on this day in 1953.

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