Overview

• Business equipment production accelerated at a 23% annualized rate in Q1 and rose 11% in Q2, marking the strongest non-pandemic back-to-back gain since 1997.
• Capital expenditures jumped 16.6% in the first half of 2025, the largest two-quarter increase outside pandemic years in nearly three decades.
• Administration officials say the One Big Beautiful Bill’s full retroactive expensing provision spurred firms to accelerate investment in equipment and facilities.
• Treasury counselors contend that increased capital deepening is lifting worker productivity and supporting nearly 2% real hourly wage growth, the fastest pace in six decades.
• Small-business confidence climbed to 46% rating the economy as “excellent” or “good,” up 16 points quarter-to-quarter, according to the latest CNBC-SurveyMonkey survey.