Empire State Manufacturing Survey: General business activity: Current (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. Based on a sample of manufacturing firms surveyd by the FED, the seasonally unadjusted diffusion index for general business activity (share of CEOs seeing a recent increase minus share reporting a decrease) was 11.9 in September 2026, compared to 14.4 in August 2026.
Sample. The monthly time series displayed in the figure has 303 observations. The series covers the period stretching from July 2001 to September 2026.
History. Here’s a quick look at some summary statistics calculated on the whole sample: the diffusion index averaged 6.3; it reached its minimum of -73.5 in April 2020; it attained a maximum of 45.8 in April 2004.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2026-07-31 | 15.0000 |
| 2026-08-31 | 14.4000 |
| 2026-09-30 | 11.9000 |
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Series Metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Description | Diffusion index for the question: Did general business activity increase or decrease in the past month? |
| Country | United States |
| Economic concept | Business survey response |
| Data type | Coincident 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
Discover the other time series included in this data set.