Empire State Manufacturing Survey: Capital expenditures: Future (increase vs decrease; diffusion index; percentage points; seasonally unadjusted) - United States - NY FED - Monthly
This series is part of the dataset: Empire State Manufacturing Survey (NY FED)
Download Full Dataset (.xlsx)Latest updates. According to survey data about NY-based manufacturers collected by the Federal Reserve, the seasonally unadjusted diffusion index for capital expenditures (share of CEOs seeing a future increase minus share forecasting a decrease) stood at 14.9 in September 2026, compared to 16.5 in the previous month.
Sample. There are 303 data points in the monthly series presented in the figure above. The time span covered by the series stretches from July 2001 to September 2026.
History. Here's a snapshot of a few summary statistics we computed on the entire sample: the diffusion index had a mean value of 18.7; it peaked at 42.3 in December 2003; it registered a minimum of -19.1 in March 2009.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2026-07-31 | 15.0000 |
| 2026-08-31 | 16.5000 |
| 2026-09-30 | 14.9000 |
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Series Metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Description | Diffusion index for the question: Will capital expenditures increase or decrease over the next six months? |
| Country | United States |
| Economic concept | Business survey response |
| Data type | Leading indicator of the business cycle |
| Deflation method | Not applicable |
| Seasonally adjusted | No |
| Rescaling | None |
| Frequency | Monthly |
| Unit | Percentage points |
| Source | Federal Reserve Bank of New York |
| Source type | Central bank |
| Data licence | Free use subject to conditions |
| Measure type | Diffusion index (share of respondents reporting an increase minus share reporting a decrease) |
Series in the same data set
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