Fifth District Survey of Manufacturing Activity: Inventories of finished goods: Future (increase vs decrease; diffusion index; percentage points; seasonally adjusted) - 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 adjusted diffusion index for inventories of finished goods (share of CEOs seeing a future increase minus share forecasting a decrease) was 5.0 in September 2025, compared to 9.0 in the previous month.
Sample. In the monthly time series presented in the figure, there are 259 records. The time range covered by the series is from January 1997 to September 2025.
History. Take a look at a few simple statistics calculated on the whole sample: the diffusion index had a mean of -3.3; it recorded a bottom of -46.0 in August 2000; it attained a maximum of 15.0 in May 2015.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2025-07-31 | 9.0 |
| 2025-08-31 | 9.0 |
| 2025-09-30 | 5.0 |
Hint. Our metadata often comprise references to the sources of the data we provide. You can use these references to search for additional information needed in your analyses.
Not for investment purposes. Financial data distributed on this web site are not suitable for investment purposes or as a basis for financial-decision making. Users should obtain expert advice and do independent analysis before taking any financial risk.
Series Metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Description | Diffusion index for the question: Will finished goods inventories 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 | Yes |
| 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) |
Series in the same data set
Discover the other time series included in this data set.