US manufacturing technology orders declined by -8% in July compared with the previous month, according to data from our colleagues at AMT. However, at $605.8 million, orders were +55.2% higher than in July 2025. Orders have exceeded $500 million for five consecutive months. In the first seven months of 2026, manufacturing technology orders totalled $4.03 billion, +37.1% higher than in the same period of 2025.
The decline between June and July was driven by a pullback in investment from several customer industries, with one of the largest reductions coming from manufacturers of engines, turbines and other power transmission equipment. AMT notes that, for the past two years, manufacturing technology orders from this sector have exceeded the long-run average by more than +35%, as demand on electrical grids has intensified.
Despite the decline in orders from power-generation equipment manufacturers, investment by electrical equipment manufacturers continued to increase. Orders from this sector reached their highest monthly level of 2026 and their second-highest level since March 2024, as manufacturers respond to demand to upgrade and expand the electricity grid and to increased demand from new construction, including data centres.
Elsewhere, manufacturers in the forging and stamping sector increased orders to their highest level since December 2012. AMT also highlights improving investment from contract machine shops: between June and July, the value of orders from job shops declined by only -1.3%, while the number of units ordered increased by more than +2%, suggesting continued demand for additional manufacturing capacity.
All US regions recorded year-on-year growth in the first seven months of 2026, with the strongest increase in the West (+57.7%) and the weakest in North Central-East (+9.9%).
Meanwhile, the US cutting tool market recorded shipments of $278.1 million in July, up +2.8% from June and +29.0% from July 2025. Year-to-date shipments totalled $1.75 billion, +20.7% higher than in the same period of 2025.
You can download the press releases for the two surveys from the AMT website at https://www.amtonline.org/topic/intelligence; alternatively, you can request either or both releases from MTA and we can make sure you get them when they are published each month.