Member Briefing May 28, 2026

May Economic Indicator Roundup for U.S. Manufacturers - Price Pressure and Growth

The U.S. manufacturing sector is holding its footing as spring progresses, with output rebounding in April, national activity expanding for a fourth consecutive month, and year-over-year trade conditions remaining dramatically improved from a year ago. Demand indicators are stable, regional activity is broadly positive, and capacity utilization edged higher after several months of stagnation. In this month's roundup, Industrynet explores the latest data on manufacturing output, ISM activity, trade flows, employment, producer prices, and regional Federal Reserve surveys to assess how the industrial economy is managing an increasingly complex cost environment as 2026 progresses.

The more pressing story emerging, however, is costs. Producer prices posted their largest monthly increase since March 2022 in April, with the 12-month gain reaching 6.0 percent, the highest since December 2022. Critically, the surge is no longer concentrated in energy alone. Services and logistics inputs are now contributing meaningfully, pointing to a broadening of inflationary pressure across the supply chain. Employment remains inconsistent, export orders are contracting, and a sharp reversal in the Philadelphia Fed survey signals that demand conditions may be softening in parts of the country even as the national headline holds steady.

Read more at Industrynet

US Mortgage Rate Rises To Nine-Month High

The rate on the most popular U.S. residential real estate ​loan hit a nine-month high last week in another blow to home-ownership affordability, as the Iran war kept oil prices elevated, fueling ‌inflation concerns and pushing up benchmark U.S. Treasury yields. The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose 9 basis points to 6.65% in the week ended May 22, the Mortgage Bankers Association said on Wednesday. It was last higher in August 2025, before the Federal Reserve began a series of interest rate cuts to head off further labor market weakening that ​for a time helped bring down 30-year mortgage rates to around 6% early 2026.

Mortgage applications dropped 8.5% from a week earlier, the MBA said, driven largely by a decline in refinancing. Overall application volumes were the lowest since last summer. Mortgage rates are loosely tied to the Fed's short-term policy rate, though they follow the 10-year Treasury yield much more closely. Yields on U.S. government bonds have fallen this week on hopes of a breakthrough deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. That move may be reflected in competing mortgage rate data due on Thursday from Freddie Mac, which last week showed an average rate of 6.51% for ​30-year mortgages, also the highest since ​late last summer.

Read more at Reuters

IBM Is Creating $2B Anderon Quantum Chip Foundry in Albany

The company announced that it had signed a letter of intent with the U.S. Department of Commerce for a proposed $1 billion CHIPS award to support Anderon, a new standalone IBM company that would operate what IBM describes as America’s first purpose-built quantum foundry. IBM said Anderon would be headquartered in Albany, New York, and would use 300-mm wafer fabrication to support quantum device manufacturing. IBM also said it would contribute $1 billion in cash, intellectual property, assets, and workforce to the new company.

That makes the IBM award more than a company subsidy. It points to a deeper policy objective: building the manufacturing backbone for quantum systems, from fabrication processes and specialized materials to device integration and supply chain control. By funding quantum under a semiconductor industrial-policy framework, Washington is treating quantum information science as part of the broader strategic-technology agenda around microelectronics, AI, and advanced manufacturing.

Read more at Tom’s Hardware

Iran and the Middle East

• US And Iran Exchange Strikes As Hormuz Deal Hopes Falter – Reuters
• EU Ministers To Discuss Russia Strategy As Kyiv Pushes For European Role - Reuters
• Trump Says Iran Misjudged, Assumed He Feared War’s Political Fallout - WSJ
• 'Like A Prisoner Being Released' - Relief For Iranians As Internet Shutdown Ends - BBC
• Israel Declares New Swathe Of Lebanon 'A Combat Zone,' Warns Residents To Leave - Reuters
• Trump Says No Country Will Control Hormuz Strait Under Future Iran Deal – France 24
• Iran Could Open Strait Of Hormuz Within A Month If Terms Agreed, State TV Says - Reuters
• Interactive Map – US and Israeli Attack in Iran – ArcGIS Story Maps
• Map – Conflicts in the Middle East – Live Universal Awareness Map

Ukraine

• Zelenskiy Asks Trump For Air Defences As Russia Escalates Strike Threats – Reuters
• Almost 500,000 Russian Soldiers Killed In Ukraine War, GCHQ Says - BBC
• Errant Ukrainian Drones Fuel Tensions On NATO's Eastern Flank - Reuters
• Europe Is Starting to Think Putin Will Expand the War Beyond Ukraine - WSJ
• Russia 'Relentlessly Targeting' Critical Infrastructure And Democracy, GCHQ Says - BBC
• EU's von der Leyen Discussed Ukraine's Path To EU Membership With Zelenskiy - Reuters
• Funerals, Beauty Queens And Bombs: The Ukrainian City That Won’t Let Putin Win – Fox
• 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

• US To Pull Jets, Destroyers And Submarines From NATO As Part Of European Drawdown – AP
• Ebola-Hit DR Congo Faces 'Catastrophic Collision' Of Disease And Conflict, WHO Warns - BBC
• Ebola Outbreak Risks Becoming ‘Deadliest On Record’: Aid Group – The Hill
• Samsung Pay Deal Marks Seismic Change For South Korea, Emboldening Unions - Reuters
• EU To Squeeze US Space Tech Out Of Prized Satellite Airwaves - Politico
• ‘It’s Like a Pandemic.’ Cuba’s Tourism Industry Is Completely Unraveling. - WSJ
• Temperatures Soar Across Europe As 'Heat Dome' Drives May Records – France 24
• Norway Will Come Under France's Nuclear Umbrella, Leaders Say - Reuters
• German Top Economists Urge Merz To Enact Painful Reforms To Revive Growth - Politico
• El Niño Raises the Risk for a Hotter, More Volatile Summer – Engie

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NY Moves To Ban 3D Printers That Make Guns, But Can It Be Enforced?

The state Legislature last week approved first-in-the-nation legislation that would regulate 3D printers to prevent them from being used to produce untraceable firearms. But questions remain about how the statute will be implemented once it goes into effect. The proposed requires all 3D printers and CNC mills and lathes sold in New York to include software that would block the printing of a gun. Law enforcement officials including Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg have strongly backed the legislation. The bill criminalizes the possession or distribution of “digital firearm manufacturing code,” for 3D printing a firearm, firearms components or attachments. It also requires any 3D printer sold in New York to contain “blocking technology” that prevents printing of firearms or illegal firearm components.

But enforcing the law may be difficult. Digital files for creating firearm attachments may be hard to distinguish from innocuous geometric shapes. Many 3D printers can also carry open-source software, meaning that anyone is free to view and modify the software’s code to their liking, complicating the prevention of gun production. The law is set to take effect 90 days after the governor signs the bill, which she has not done yet. Within that time, a working group will be formed consisting of representatives from the State Police, the Department of State and the State University of New York alongside experts in “manufacturing technology, artificial intelligence and digital security.” The working group will be given a year to make recommendations for the “minimum safety standards” needed for the blocking technology of 3D printers.

Read more at The Times Union

Massive N.Y. State Budget Bill Forces Majority Democrats To Approve Controversial Climate Law Changes Alongside Tier 6 Pension Reform

Voting on New York’s late state budget continued Tuesday with a bloated omnibus Transportation, Economic Development and Environmental Conservation bill that left some lawmakers in New York’s Democratic legislative majorities in the state Senate and Assembly with a tough choice: Vote yes on Tier 6 pension reforms for public employees in their districts, which many of them support, while also green-lighting rollbacks to the state’s 2019 climate law, which progressive Democrats strongly oppose, or stand up to Gov. Kathy Hochul and vote no on an overall budget bill and, with that, pension relief and other measures geared toward addressing affordability. The Bill passed both Houses.

The idea that changes to the state’s nation-leading effort to reduce emissions by 85% by 2050 — which include provisions that will delay regulations for how the state will reduce emissions until December 2028 after a 2024 deadline lapsed and change how those emissions are calculated — could not have moved forward with the state Legislature in the driver’s seat is not one disputed by Hochul. She frequently chalks her use of the budget process up to a desire to accomplish agenda items that could not be successfully advanced through other legislative levers. Hochul’s push for such changes, which are necessary because of a lawsuit brought by environmental advocates tied to the missed 2024 deadline, is supported by some business groups.

Read more at NY State of Politics

House Armed Services Committee Flexes Legislative Muscle In $1.15T Defense Bill

The House Armed Services Committee has unveiled its $1.15 trillion defense policy bill for fiscal 2027, with lawmakers putting their legislative muscle into boosting weapons production for critical munitions, fighter jets and warships. The bill authorizes the amount requested in the president’s FY27 discretionary request but does not factor in the $350 billion in the Pentagon’s mandatory funding request, which would bring national security spending to $1.5 trillion in FY27. Whether the department gets that funding will depend on if Republicans can muster the political willpower to push through another reconciliation bill — a tall order as GOP lawmakers are still working to pass a separate reconciliation bill centered around immigration enforcement.

HASC will debate amendments and mark up the bill on June 4 in what is typically a marathon session that stretches late into the night. Rather than big changes to the annual funding levels for weapons programs, HASC Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Ala., focused on the long-term expansion of the defense industrial base. The bill includes multiyear authority for the department to procure certain critical munitions, which would allow the Pentagon to solidify framework agreements with contractors that it has announced throughout this year. The 13 munitions include Patriot PAC-3 interceptors, THAAD interceptors, AMRAAM air-to-air missiles, Tomahawk cruise missiles and several Standard Missile variants, among others.

Read more at Breaking Defense

More Policy and Politics Headlines

• Alabama Asks Supreme Court To Allow Redistricting For 2026 – NBC
• Trump and Democrats Get Paxton in Texas, the Senate Nominee They All Wanted - WSJ
• North Carolina Sues EV Maker VinFast Over Unbuilt Factory – Ward’s Auto
• Cook Political Report Shifts Texas Senate Race Toward Democrats After Paxton Runoff Victory – The Hill
• Trump Taps Ohio Appeals Judge Matthew Byrne For Federal Bench – Law360
• NAM Releases Roadmap for Lowering Health Care Costs for Manufacturers - NAM
• Mullin ‘Drawing Up Plans’ To Halt International Flight Processing In ‘Sanctuary Cities’ – The Hill

Is This the Most Overlooked Indicator of Women’s Health?

For those who experience menstruation, period blood is something that’s often discarded without a second thought. But what if it held just as much value as urine, cervical, and other blood samples that are used to examine uterine health? Researchers are currently exploring the potentials of period blood. This substance—medically referred to as “effluent” and consisting of a combination of some blood, but also uterine tissue, immune cells, mucus, proteins, and signaling molecules—reflects what is happening inside the uterus during the menstrual cycle and carries a rich set of biological information, says Dipanjan Pan, professor in nanomedicine at The Pennsylvania State University.

Christine Metz, professor of obstetrics and gynecology, as well as molecular medicine, at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research at Northwell Health in New York state. has been working with period blood through the Research OutSmarts Endometriosis (ROSE) study she co-launched in 2013 to better understand endometriosis and work toward developing a non-invasive diagnostic tool. Endometriosis—which affects an estimated 10 percent, or 190 million, of reproductive-age women worldwide—is typically diagnosed with an endometrial biopsy via surgery under general anesthesia, which is about 70 percent accurate and sometimes requires two or three surgeries before a diagnosis can be made. But period blood, Metz says, has the potential to act as a “natural biopsy”—once more research has been conducted, of course.

Read more at National Geographic

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Trade Wars

• CBP Raises Accepted Tariff Refunds To $85B – Supply Chain Dive
• Taiwan Said to Suspect Nvidia Chips Smuggled to China Via Japan - Bloomberg
• Volvo Gets Authorization To Import Vehicles With Chinese Hardware Or Software – Automotive News
• China Is Exporting Its Factories Across the World and Spooking the Competition - WSJ
• Lower Tariffs Could Be Ahead. Here’s Why. – Barron’s

Boeing CEO Says Company Met Requirements To Increase 737 Max Production To 47 Jets Per Month

Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg said Wednesday that the company has met requirements set by the Federal Aviation Administration to increase its production of 737 Max aircraft to 47 jets per month. The company is currently rolling out aircraft at a rate of 42 per month, Ortberg said at a Bernstein conference. “We’ve passed the capstone review for rate 47, so we are now in the process of running the line at the 47-a-month rate,” Ortberg said. “It’ll probably take us a few months of stabilization there. ... My guess is we continue to go up in rate. It may take a little bit longer, but we’re off and rolling now for the 47-a-month rate, and we should be there in the next couple months.”

Still, he acknowledged Boeing has “work to do” to get to a point where the company can further ramp up its production rates of the 737 Max aircraft. As the company looks toward reaching a 52-per-month production rate, Ortberg said that process could take at least six months, if not longer, if the newly approved rate goes into effect in July or August.

Read more at CNBC

Automaker-Supplier Relations Improve Despite Tariff, EV Pressures

Supplier relations improved for all six major North American automakers in 2026 despite tariff pressures and electric vehicle cost challenges, according to Plante Moran’s annual Working Relations Index study. The 2026 North American Automotive OEM-Supplier Working Relations Index study found overall improvements across all six major manufacturers for the first time in the survey’s 26-year history, with Ford, Toyota and Stellantis posting the largest gains. The study noted the improvements were significant given the “trust gap” identified in the 2025 survey, which showed widening differences between top-rated and bottom-rated automakers in measures of trust.

“In 2026, all six automakers improved trust scores through enhanced communication, accessibility and their ability to solve problems,” said Dr. Angela Johnson, principal in Plante Moran’s automotive and mobility consulting practice and head of supplier relations analytics. “Also, in the 10,000 supplier comments we received — more than three times the number received in prior years — we saw an emerging collective recognition that working together is the best way to face permacrisis challenges, innovate and grow.” The improvements were driven largely by better supplier perceptions of long-term profitability, commercial fairness, buyer performance and communication, according to the study.

Read more at Assembly Magazine

Cargo Jet Order Tops $4B for Airbus

Airbus reported an increase to a November 2025 order for freighter aircraft from Air China Cargo Co. Ltd., adding four A350Fs for a total of 10 cargo jets to be delivered. Based on list prices, the total order is unofficially estimated at $4.65 billion. The A350F will be a twin-engine aircraft for global service with a range of 4,700 nmi (8,700 km / 5,406 miles) and payloads up to 111 metric tons (122.4 short tons.) The cargo jet was introduced in 2021 as a freighter variants of the A350-1000 passenger aircraft, with entry to commercial service targeted for 2027.

Air China Cargo is the freight service offered by Air China, transporting goods from China to Europe, North America, and Asia. Its current fleet currently operates a fleet of eight Airbus A330-200P2F aircraft. In the near future, the A350F freighter will join Air China Cargo’s fleet and will complement the A330-200P2F freighters, maximizing their advantages on long-haul and medium-to-long-haul routes. The carrier’s fleet presently includes eight Airbus A330-200s, three Boeing 747-400Fs, and 12 Boeing 777Fs.

Read more at American Machinist

SK Hynix Joins $1 Trillion Club After Samsung, Micron On AI Chip Boom

SK Hynix topped $1 trillion ​in market value for the first time on Wednesday, joining its memory chip rivals Samsung Electronics and Micron Technology in reaching the milestone ‌on an AI-driven rally. Shares of SK Hynix closed the session up 9.3%, after rising as much as 14.9% during the session to take the South Korean chipmaker's market value to a record 1,680 trillion won ($1.12 trillion) and propel the country's benchmark KOSPI index to a record high. Domestic rival Samsung surpassed $1 trillion in market value for the first time on May 6, while U.S.-listed Micron did so on Tuesday.

Strong demand for high-end memory ​chips used in AI chipsets like those designed by Nvidia (NVDA.O), opens new tab has tightened supply and driven up prices, benefiting the world's biggest makers of the semiconductors. Memory ​chip prices doubled in the first quarter alone from the previous period and are forecast to increase by up to 63% in ⁠the current quarter due to AI data centre demand that has constrained supplies for smartphones, laptops and automobiles and helped top memory chipmakers report record profits.

Read more at Reuters

Micron's Virginia Facility Starts 1-Alpha DRAM Production

Micron announced this week that it has begun manufacturing 1α (1-alpha) DRAM at its Manassas, Virginia, facility. This action brings the company's most advanced DDR4-compatible process technology to U.S. soil for the first time. The expansion, which Micron says will quadruple DDR4 wafer output at the site, represents a $2 billion-plus investment supported by $275 million in finalized CHIPS and Science Act funding, and production is expected by the end of the year.

The company is the only manufacturer of memory in the United States, and the Manassas fab specifically serves long-lifecycle customers in the automotive, defense, aerospace, industrial, networking, and medical device sectors. The 1α process node, which Micron first brought to volume production at its Taiwan fabs in late 2020, delivers roughly 40% higher bit density than the preceding 1z node and was the first DRAM technology to achieve sub-15nm cell dimensions. It uses DUV lithography rather than the more expensive EUV tools that Samsung has adopted for its advanced DRAM nodes.

Read more at Tom’s Hardware

Airbus Supply Snarls Push Back Qantas’s Plans for Nonstop Flights to London, New York

Airbus said delivery of the first of a batch of long-distance passenger jets to Australia’s Qantas Airways has been delayed as supply-chain issues buffet the plane maker. The first of the 12 specially adapted A350-1000s will now be delivered in April 2027, the European group said Tuesday. The first of the batch of the A350s is in the paint shop and set for test flights in a matter of weeks, a spokesperson for Qantas said.

Airbus was forced to trim its aircraft-delivery goal in 2022, 2024 and 2025 because of supply-chain snarls, as global bottlenecks stymied sourcing of assembly necessities from seats to toilets. A shortage of engines—supplied by RTX-owned Pratt & Whitney—has become Airbus’s latest headache, though the group has backed its delivery targets for this year. “We continue to work closely with Airbus on the delivery and certification process that will enable us to begin operating these history-making ultra long-haul flights,” the spokesperson said.

Read more at The WSJ

The Stellantis ‘STLA One’ Global Modular Vehicle Platform Aims To Cut Costs

Stellantis announced a new vehicle platform dubbed STLA One at its Investor Day event held at its North American headquarters in Michigan on May 21, according to a press release. The modular architecture is designed to shorten time to market, strengthen supplier stability and improve cost efficiency up to 20%, per the company. 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.

The STLA One architecture was designed to support different powertrains and battery pack configurations, including hybrid and electric. The automaker plans to launch STLA One in 2027 and sees it becoming a “mega platform” underpinning over 30 Stellantis models totaling 2 million units by 2035. The STLA One platform will be a key part of the automaker’s new “FaSTLAne 2030” five-year strategy to accelerate growth it announced at the Investor Day event last week, which includes a planned €60 billion (approximately $70 billion) investment by Stellantis. CEO Antonio Filosa said 60% of the funds will be put towards promoting its global brands and products and the remaining 40% into launching new vehicle platforms, technologies and other common assets.

Read More at Ward’s Auto

Ford’s Foray Into Energy-Storage Business Capitalizes On The AI Boom

Ford Motor’s stock price has surged to its highest level in nearly three years, and the reason has little to do with cars or trucks. Over the past two weeks, Ford stock has risen 28% after the company announced a new energy-storage subsidiary, Ford Energy. That division, which launched with a $2 billion investment, seeks to turn batteries once destined for electric vehicles into stationary energy-storage systems for artificial-intelligence data centers, power utilities and large industrial customers. The move puts Ford in competition with other major battery-making companies such as Tesla and LG Energy Solution.

For Ford’s most bullish investors, the division represents an opportunity to capitalize on the AI boom and soaring energy demands in the U.S., right as the auto industry slogs through an EV downturn and suddenly has far less use for batteries than it once expected. The enthusiasm for the energy business is being driven in part by the automaker’s battery partnership with CATL. Ford is licensing CATL’s low-cost technology for factories in Michigan and Kentucky to make batteries.

Read more at the WSJ

Daily Market Update May 27, 2026

The June ’26 natural gas contract is trading up $0.06 at $2.96. The July ‘26 crude oil contract is down $4.19 at $89.70.

Read more at NRG

Learn more about the Council of Industry Energy Buying Group

Quote of the Day

 "I'm surprised when the ball doesn't go into the hoop. I think I should make every shot."

Jerry West - American Basketball Player and Executive who was born on this day in 1938.

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