MFGCalcs Magazine

The latest issue: MFGCalcs Magazine, Issue 1, November 2026

A free quarterly on American manufacturing, written from the data MFG Calcs publishes.

This issue's cover story is "The $1 Trillion Squeeze". American manufacturers just earned profits at an annual rate of more than $1 trillion, a first in 25 years of records.

64 pages and 19 stories, every chart linked to the live data behind it. Read it page by page in the reader, or story by story below.

• Read MFGCalcs Magazine, Issue 1, November 2026

Stories in this issue

• Editor’s Letter
• The $1 Trillion Squeeze: American manufacturers just earned profits at an annual rate of more than $1 trillion, a first in 25 years of records.
• The 19-Year Ceiling: Take prices out, and the industry that includes the country’s machine shops is still short of its spring 2007 mark
• The Factory Got Younger: The American factory hit a record age in 2022, then started getting younger.
• More Hours, Barely More Hands: The factory week is the longest since January 2019, while factory jobs have barely grown.
• Made Elsewhere: The usual story is that America swapped China for Mexico. The import records tell a stranger one.
• Buying Anyway: Duties on 36 families of imports have more than quadrupled in two years. August still set a record
• The Cost of Distance: In 2025 the duty cost more than the trip to America for every big supplier we track
• The Yen Sale: The weak yen put Japan’s machine tools on sale, yet buyers spent less on them in 2025 than in 2022
• The Fastener Paradox: Imported fasteners carried the heaviest duty we track, and the American-made bolt got cheaper
• Duty Worth Half the Metal: Duty on imported aluminum reached about half its value. Buyers spent more on it anyway
• Two Oil Shocks, One Year: Crude nearly doubled, gave it all back, then climbed again
• The Reserve Drawdown: The United States has drawn down nearly a third of its emergency oil since March.
• Eight Days in January: Spot natural gas at Henry Hub went from $2.92 to $30.72 in eight days. By Feb. 9 it was $3.25
• The Rate the Fed Doesn’t Set: The overnight rate fell in six steps. The 10-year yield rose anyway
• The Yuan Turns: A yuan quote can stay the same and still cost an American buyer about a tenth more in dollars than at the currency’s April 2025 low.
• Still the Most Manufacturing State: Chemical makers alone grew more in 2025 than all of Indiana’s factories did together.
• Cheap Power, Still Second: Texas' factories have grown fastest of the big states since 2019. California still makes the most
• We Graded Our Own Forecasts: Our ranges are drawn to catch eight outcomes in 10 and have caught seven.

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