September U.S. Equipment Orders Stay Elevated YoY

New orders for metallic slicing, forming and fabricating equipment (manufacturing expertise) totaled $493.1 million in September and continued to indicate month-to-month volatility alongside year-over-year progress.

In keeping with the Affiliation for Manufacturing Expertise’s month-to-month Manufacturing Expertise Orders Report (USMTO), the September determine was down 7.2% from August, however up  11% from a year-earlier. It adopted August’s 36.2% month-to-month improve and 45% YoY improve.

This was the best order worth for a September since 2022 and the primary time since September 2011 that orders exceeded the extent from the yr prior when an Worldwide Manufacturing Expertise Present (IMTS) was held. Regardless of the robust progress so as values, the variety of models ordered continues to develop at a slower tempo, as September 2025 had the second-lowest variety of models ordered throughout a September since 2009. Up to now, this pattern has been attributed to elevated demand for automation; nonetheless, amid the continued U.S. authorities shutdown, the lack of information from the Bureau of Labor Statistics has clouded the causal components.

The September report additionally referred to as out the next:

Contract machine outlets, the biggest consumers of producing expertise, noticed the worth of orders decline 1.2%, in comparison with a 7.2% decline general.  USTMO: “Regardless of this outperformance, job outlets proceed to lag the market in 2025, with the worth of equipment orders up 12% within the first three quarters, in comparison with the 17.3% progress seen within the complete market.”

Orders from automotive producers elevated to their highest stage of 2025, but models have been on the third lowest stage of the yr. There was a normal lull in orders from the automotive sector following massive investments in new manufacturing traces made in 2021 and 2022. Orders are up practically 15% over the primary three quarters of 2024, as some OEMs retool manufacturing traces away from electrical automobile manufacturing.

Demand for manufacturing expertise has confirmed resilient in 2025 regardless of a number of financial headwinds; nonetheless, the fourth quarter could possibly be the hardest take a look at but. In asserting the most recent rate of interest lower, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell likened the dearth of entry to statistics as a result of ongoing authorities shutdown to driving in a fog. Forecasts introduced at AMT’s annual MTForecast convention predicted some industrial slowdown in 2026, however whether or not that may have an effect on manufacturing expertise orders within the the rest of 2025 remains to be an open query.