Fifth District Survey of Manufacturing Activity: Capital expenditures: 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. Based on firms' responses to the Fifth District Survey of Manufacturing Activity carried out by the Richmond FED, the seasonally unadjusted diffusion index for capital expenditures (share of CEOs seeing a future increase minus share forecasting a decrease) was -2.0 in September 2026, compared to 1.0 in August.
Sample. This monthly time series has 353 observations. The series covers the span of time stretching from May 1997 to September 2026.
History. Here's a glimpse of a few summary statistics calculated on the entire sample: the diffusion index hit a trough of -34.0 in November 2008; it hit a maximum of 45.0 in May 2021; it was equal on average to 14.2.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2026-07-31 | -6.00000 |
| 2026-08-31 | 1.00000 |
| 2026-09-30 | -2.00000 |
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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 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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