Today, the Federal Reserve held the federal funds rate steady at a target range of 4.25% to 4.5% for the third meeting in a row, citing increasing uncertainty in the economic outlook and a rising risk of higher unemployment and inflation.

Today, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis released their first estimate of GDP for the first quarter of 2025. According to the estimate, GDP contracted 0.3% at an annualized rate.

For the second meeting in a row, the Federal Reserve announced it will hold federal fund rates steady at a target range of 4.25% to 4.5%. Learn what this means for the producers and distributors of manufacturing technology.

New policies and bold predictions – what’s next for manufacturing in 2025? At AMT’s Winter Economic Forum, top economists and industry experts analyzed the economic outlook, policy shifts, and emerging trends shaping the industry’s future.

The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis released their first estimate of GDP for the fourth quarter of 2024. According to the first estimate, GDP grew 2.3% at an annualized rate. This was driven by strong consumer demand but held back by lagging investment.

Today the Federal Reserve announced they would hold benchmark rates at a target range of 4.25% to 4.50% in a widely anticipated move. This is the first meeting where the Fed held rates steady since they began to cut rates in September 2024.

Just as early humans’ original tools were constrained by their power sources, today’s modern technological advances are limited by their access to sufficient and reliable supplies of electricity.

Any move by the Federal Reserve that keeps the economy growing at or above its current pace would spur additional investment in manufacturing technology given the currently elevated capacity utilization levels.

This article will explore how demand for automation responded to historic shifts, the impact on manufacturing jobs, and what impacts these shifting trends have had on productivity.

In much the same way that the Fed was able to reduce interest rates in 1995 to allow the economy to continue expanding for the remainder of the decade, today’s Fed may be engineering a so-called “soft landing,".