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Its the sort of thing you might not notice until it really matters, but the U.S. Postal Service recently changed how it defines the postmark on a piece of mailwarning that the postmark date is not a reliable indicator of when you actually mailed something. If youre the sort of person who waits until the last minute to send time-sensitive mail, that means youll need to stand in line at your local post office and request a manual postmark when dropping off your mail. While the way mail is postmarked hasnt undergone some major shift recently, the postal service set out earlier this year to clarify earlier what a postmark means and how the process works. By clarifying, the beleaguered agency delivered a reality check of sortsand warned that an issue many people didnt even realize was an issue could become more common under an initiative its implemented to optimize mail delivery, and particularly in rural areas, as part of its Delivering for America 10-year plan. Postmarks applied at originating processing facilities have never provided a perfectly reliable indicator of the date on which the Postal Service first accepted possession of a mailpiece, the agency said in a federal filing from last month. To the extent that customers currently have this view of the postmark, it does not reflect the realities of postal operations. Perhaps worse yet? Buying postage online or at a kiosk in the post office, doesnt overcome the postmark issue as that date merely shows when the postage was printed and not when it was actually in the hands of the USPS. CONCERNS ABOUT MAIL-IN BALLOTS When the agency first proposed clarifying the process back in August, there was a mandatory public comment period that elicited only 130 comments. But many of those comments focused on the implications for mail-in voting, which has become especially prevalent in the post-pandemic era. In the 2024 presidential election, mail-in voting accounted for 30.3% of the turnout, according to a survey conducted by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. That was down from 43% in the 2020 election. By warning of a likely timing gap between the date when you drop off mail and when its counted as received, the U.S. Postal Service has shifted some of the responsibility back on mailers. In the federal filing, it reiterated a common-sense measure that voters should mail their completed ballot at least one week before it must be received or else queue up at the post office for that manual postmark. OTHER CHANGES COMING IN 2026 But theres some (hopefully) welcomed news for people who dread a visit to the post office. In September, the agency announced that a modernization project will continue in 2026 that will see many lobbies undergo much-needed renovations. These projects, however, come at a cost. And shipping prices are going up once again, though not (yet) for stamps. After hiking shipping rates by as much as 7.6% in July, another big increase is coming on January 18. The cost to ship the lightest-weight package domestically will soon cost $7.76, a 7.8% increase from the current starting rates of $7.20.
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Chinese factory activity expanded for the first time in eight months in December, as orders picked up ahead of holidays and builders rushed to finish projects, according to surveys released Wednesday.The official purchasing managers index for manufacturing, a monthly survey of companies, rose to 50.1 this month, the National Bureau of Statistics reported. That was just above the 50 cut off for expansion versus contraction on a scale up to 100. Another, private sector, survey also was at 50.1 for December.The better-than-expected readings partly reflect easing pressure due to an extended truce in trade tensions with the U.S. They also suggest manufacturers ramped up production ahead of New Year holidays, when many companies close for days. China’s Lunar New Year falls in mid-February this year.In comments to a new year’s gathering carried Wednesday by China’s state media, President Xi Jinping, vowed to promote “high-quality development” and to carry out “more positive macroeconomic policies” while ensuring social harmony and stability.The world’s second largest economy is forecast to grow at a pace just below the official target of about 5% this year, supported by strong activity in high-tech industries and exports. The official PMI for high-tech manufacturing stood at 52.5 in December, up 2.4 percentage points from the previous month.The report said the PMIs for both equipment manufacturing and the consumer goods industry reached 50.4.The separate report by RatingDog, a Chinese credit research and analysis company based in the southern city of Shenzhen, said that despite an increase in overall orders, new export sales fell slightly and hiring weakened.“Overall, the manufacturing sector regained growth at the end of 2025,” RatingDog’s founder Yao Yu said in a statement. “However, the improvement was marginal, with the impact of promotions and new products appearing impulse-driven and their sustainability requiring observation.”The National Statistic Bureau said the PMI measures for food, textiles, clothing and electronics were above a relatively strong 53.However, while large manufacturers increased their output, factory activity for the small and mid-sized enterprises that account for the lion’s share of employment in China remained in contractionary territory. As consumers cut back on spending, conditions for retailers and restaurants also deteriorated, the report said.Some economists believe China’s economy is growing more slowly than official figures suggest. Its leaders are grappling with long-term challenges including a yearslong slump in the country’s property sector and excess capacity in many industries, including automaking, that has led to damaging price wars.Higher costs for raw materials, especially for metals, has put pressure on company profit margins, the RatingDog report said. It noted that exporters had raised prices for the first time in three months to help offset those higher costs.The upturn in activity may be short-lived as it appears to be helped by a slight increase in government spending, Julian Evans-Pritchard of Capital Economics said in a report.“The big picture is that the structural headwinds from the property downturn and industrial overcapacity are set to persist in 2026 and there appears to be limited appetite among policymakers for a big increase in demand-side stimulus,” he said. Elaine Kurtenbach, AP Business Writer
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Drugmakers plan to raise U.S. prices on at least 350 branded medications including vaccines against COVID, RSV and shingles and blockbuster cancer treatment Ibrance, even as the Trump administration pressures them for cuts, according to data provided exclusively by healthcare research firm 3 Axis Advisors. The number of price increases for 2026 is up from the same point last year, when drugmakers unveiled plans for raises on more than 250 drugs. The median of this year’s price hikes is around 4% in line with 2025. The increases do not reflect any rebates to pharmacy benefit managers and other discounts. DRUGMAKERS ALSO CUT SOME PRICES Drugmakers also plan to cut the list prices on around nine drugs. That includes a more than 40% cut for Boehringer Ingelheim’s diabetes drug Jardiance and three related treatments. Boehringer Ingelheim and Eli Lilly, which sell Jardiance together, did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the reason for the price cuts. Jardiance is among the 10 drugs for which the U.S. government negotiated a lower price for the Medicare program for people aged 65 and older in 2026. Under those negotiations, Boehringer and Lilly slashed the Jardiance price by two-thirds. U.S. patients currently pay by far the most for prescription medicines, often nearly three times more than in other developed nations, and Trump has been pressuring drugmakers to lower their prices to what patients pay in similarly wealthy nations. The increases on 350 medicines come even as Trump has struck deals with 14 drugmakers on prices of some of their medicines for the government’s Medicaid program for low-income Americans and for cash payers. Pfizer, Sanofi, Boehringer Ingelheim, Novartis and GSK are among those companies and also plan to raise prices on some drugs on January 1. “These deals are being announced as transformative when, in fact, they really just nibble around the margins in terms of what is really driving high prices for prescription drugs in the U.S.,” said Dr. Benjamin Rome, a health policy researcher at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. Rome said the companies seem to be maximizing prices while negotiating discounts behind the scenes with health and drug insurers and then setting yet another price for direct-to-consumer cash-pay sales. An HHS spokesman declined to comment. KEEPING UP WITH INFLATION Pfizer announced the most list price hikes, on around 80 different drugs including cancer drug Ibrance, migraine pill Nurtec, and COVID treatment Paxlovid, as well as some administered in hospitals such as morphine and hydromorphone. Most of Pfizer’s increases are below 10%, except for a 15% hike of COVID vaccine Comirnaty, while some of its relatively inexpensive hospital drugs saw more than four-fold increases. Pfizer said in a statement it had adjusted the average list price of its innovative medicines and vaccines for 2026 below the overall rate of inflation. “The modest increase is necessary to support investments that allow us to continue to discover and deliver new medicines as well as address increased costs throughout our business,” the company said. Larger U.S. drug price increases were once far more common. Drugmakers have scaled them back due to criticism from lawmakers and new government policies, such as penalizing companies that charge Medicare program prices that rise faster than inflation. European drugmaker GSK plans to increase prices on around 20 drugs and vaccines from 2% to 8.9%. The drugmaker said it is committed to reasonable prices and the hikes are needed to support scientific innovation. Sanofi and Novartis did not respond to requests for comment. More price hikes and cuts can be expected in early January, which is historically the biggest month for drugmakers to raise prices. 3 Axis is a consulting firm that works with pharmacist groups, health plans and some pharmaceutical industry-related groups on drug pricing and supply chain issues. It is a related entity to, and shares staff with, drug pricing non-profit 46brooklyn. Michael Erman, Reuters
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