McLean, Va. (February 18, 2026) — Industrial production increased 0.7% and capacity utilization increased by 0.5% across the U.S. economy from December 2025 to January 2026, according to the latest report issued by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Manufacturers nearly kept pace with overall growth, where industrial production increased 0.6% and capacity utilization increased 0.4% after the initial estimates of both measures for December 2025 were revised down.
“Increasing industrial activity in January is a positive sign that the momentum from December 2025’s historically strong manufacturing technology orders will be carried into the new year,” said Christopher Chidzik, principal economist of AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology. “The January 2025 jobs report showed manufacturing employment growing for the first time since November 2024. While the consensus opinion is that the headline figure will be revised down, the revisions to manufacturing jobs may be less intensive than feared if the increased hiring was in response to the increased output shown in today’s data release.”
