On the program today, manufacturing, computer chips, and global trade.

That last one, by the way, way more fun than it sounds.

From American public media, this is Marketplace.

In Los Angeles, I'm Kai Rizdal.

It is Thursday today, the 24th of August.

Good as always, to have you along, everybody.

We begin today with a data point on route to an observation about a slice of this economy that has seen better days.

We learned this morning, here's the data point, obviously, that orders for durable goods fell 5% in July.

The biggest drop since the early days of the pandemic, durable goods being big, expensive stuff that is supposed to last.

Here, then, is the slice of the economy at issue manufacturing in this country has been in the dumps for a while.

And if the Drupal Goods order number this morning is any indication, it's going to be a while longer before it bounces back.

This is a not unintended consequence of the fed raising rates, right? Higher interest rates are supposed to cool demand and slow the economy.

But as Marketplace has just in home reports, there are some signs that manufacturers are adapting.

Argonaut Manufacturing Services in Carlsbad, California makes pharmaceutical drugs and diagnostic tests.

CEO Wayne Woodard and I are looking through a window into a sterile room where a machine is filling glass vials.

We use a lot of automation as you can see. There's two different robots in there and a whole bunch of other mechanical parts moving the glass around and filling them.

Argonaut manufactures products for clients, not to sell on their own name. Woodard says business was great early in the pandemic when a lot of companies shifted to making COVID tests.

But more recently, he says his clients have had the pivot back to what they were doing before the pandemic, at a time when interest rates have been rising and banks are more reluctant to make loans.

And they're just finding that that pivot back, which is going to require additional capital is getting harder to find.

And as Woodard's clients have struggled, so is his company. He said to make layoffs, though he won't say how many.

But he says there are plenty of reasons to believe that business will bounce back. He says COVID taught people that diagnostic tests can be pretty useful.

Now they start thinking about what other tests could I take at home or what other tests could I go to my doctor and get a result very quickly.

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