One manufacturer said the overall rise in prices for carbide and HSS-based products has become more apparent.
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This comprehensive MDM 1Q26 Forecast Report is a guide to the U.S. wholesale distribution economy, providing a historical, current and future snapshot of numerous key economic indicators in one convenient place along with our exclusive sector-specific forecasts for 19 different product categories.
The U.S. ended the year with two straight healthy monthly gains, though 4Q25's manufacturing output was still still down year-over-year.
The bank said the resilience reflects better-than-expected growth — especially in the United States, which accounts for about two-thirds of the upward revision to the 2026 forecast.
Core PPI was flat for the month, while posting the largest YoY increase since March 2025.
Meanwhile, core inflation's year-over-year rise slightly trailed economists' forecast.
November orders were nearly 26% above the typical level for the month and had the largest three-month cumulative order value since May 2022.
The number of new housing unit starts was the weakest since the height of the COVID-19 pandemic despite a monthly and YoY improvement in single-family.
We break down the latest key industry figures, including a new look at year-to-date vs. year-over-year look at wholesale sales by NAICS product category.
We break down the latest key figures out of the Census Bureau’s October report that was delayed by the government shutdown.
The annual sales growth rate of HARDI distributors remained near 4% during 2025, after price increases.
It marked the 10th straight month that the PMI has been in contraction, and the weakeast reading since October 2024.
A lack of megaprojects normalized activity, though broader starts showed steady year-over-year gains.
A monthly rebound in mining output powered the better-than-expected overall figure.
A long-delayed Commerce Department report showed that strong consumer spending powered acceleration in the July-September quarter.
Surveyed metalforming manufacturers indicated month-to-month improvement in their December outlook for near-term business conditions and incoming orders.
However, the improvement is credited to several one-time factors rather than a sign of underlying demand momentum.
However, economists flagged that a technical fix used to combat data collection during the government shutdown may have skewed the top-line figure.
U.S. manufacturing leaders are cautiously optimistic about 2026, according to ISM, projecting higher revenues across most industries, rising investment and improved operating conditions as growth accelerates into the back half of the year. Here's our breakdown of ISM's latest supply chain demand outlook.
The long-delayed government figures showed that unemployment continued to rise despite broader job gains. See the key figures here for both overall unemployment and how wholesale trade fared in October and November.
