Fifth District Survey of Manufacturing Activity: Capacity utilization: Future (increase vs decrease; diffusion index; percentage points; seasonally unadjusted) - United States - Richmond FED - Monthly
This series is part of the dataset: Fifth District Survey of Manufacturing Activity (Richmond FED)
Download Full Dataset (.xlsx)Latest updates. According to survey data about manufacturers based in the Fifth District, the seasonally unadjusted diffusion index for capacity utilization (share of CEOs seeing a future increase minus share reporting a decrease) was 11.0 in September 2026, compared to 10.0 in August 2026.
Sample. There are 353 records in the monthly series displayed in the figure above. The series covers the time range extending from May 1997 to September 2026.
History. Here’s a quick look at some summary statistics calculated on the whole sample: the diffusion index reached a maximum of 50.0 in February 2017; it reached its minimum of -12.0 in October 2022; it had a mean of 22.5.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2026-07-31 | 15.0000 |
| 2026-08-31 | 10.0000 |
| 2026-09-30 | 11.0000 |
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Series Metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Description | Diffusion index for the question: Will capacity utilization 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 Richmond |
| Source type | Central bank |
| Data licence | Not copyrightable under U.S. law |
| Measure type | Diffusion index (share of respondents reporting an increase minus share reporting a decrease) |
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