Latest / Markets with Megan: A Quick Financial Markets Update / Supply Chain Shock In Manufacturing | S2 E139 | 04-16-2026

Transcript

Supply Chain Shock In Manufacturing | S2 E139 | 04-16-2026 · Markets with Megan: A Quick Financial Markets Update

• 0:00
  Megan Horneman: We're getting some more data out of the effects of the war with Iran, specifically in the manufacturing side of the economy.
• 0:07
  Megan Horneman: It's Thursday, April 16th, and this is Markets with Megan.
• 0:10
  Megan Horneman: If you like this podcast, subscribe, hit the alarm bell, share it with your friends, family, colleagues, anybody that might be interested in this data we get every day.
• 0:18
  Megan Horneman: What makes the headlines and what does it mean for the markets?
• 0:22
  Megan Horneman: So let's dig into what we got this morning.
• 0:24
  Megan Horneman: We got a couple pieces of data on manufacturing and business activity.
• 0:29
  Megan Horneman: Let's start with industrial production.
• 0:31
  Megan Horneman: It actually was weaker than was expected.
• 0:34
  Megan Horneman: Industrial production declined 5.5% for the month.
• 0:39
  Megan Horneman: Now it did get upwardly revised for the month of February by quite a bit, but it did decline in March.
• 0:46
  Megan Horneman: The biggest drop we saw was in autos, and that could be part of the supply chain disruptions out of the Strait of Hermuz.
• 0:53
  Megan Horneman: Utilities.
• 0:54
  Megan Horneman: We saw an increase though in computers and electronics and, of course, defense.
• 0:59
  Megan Horneman: So that means the AI spending there with those computers and electronics is still going strong regardless of what's going on in the Middle East.
• 1:07
  Megan Horneman: But when we look at the New York Fed Business Activity Index, this used to be the Empire Fed Manufacturing Index, you're looking at a steep drop in the business climate.
• 1:18
  Megan Horneman: It was had a lot to do with concern about the overall economy given what's going on in Iran.
• 1:26
  Megan Horneman: But we also saw a very big drop in the supply availability.
• 1:30
  Megan Horneman: So that is where those supply chain disruptions are coming in.
• 1:34
  Megan Horneman: The other big concern, which has been seen in other manufacturing surveys, is the prices paid component.
• 1:40
  Megan Horneman: We saw the prices paid component jump to the highest level since 2022.
• 1:45
  Megan Horneman: And that's just what people think of the current climate.
• 1:49
  Megan Horneman: When they also they also are asked about the next six months ahead, and you saw that prices paid component jump up as well.
• 1:56
  Megan Horneman: So we're starting to see some of this the impact come into the data.
• 2:02
  Megan Horneman: The markets are shrugging it off.
• 2:04
  Megan Horneman: Um, these aren't usually big market moving uh like uh economic pieces of data, but for us, we're looking at every tidbit to see how much of a supply chain disruption will filter into the economy.
• 2:17
  Megan Horneman: What does it mean for inflation, and ultimately what does it mean for the consumer and economic growth?
• 2:22
  Megan Horneman: That's all we have.
• 2:23
  Megan Horneman: If you want a history of our podcast, you go to marketswithmegan.fm