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 collected by the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, the seasonally adjusted diffusion index for inventories of finished goods (share of CEOs seeing a future increase minus share forecasting a decrease) was 1.0 in September 2026, compared to 0.0 in the previous month.
Sample. In this monthly time series, there are a total of 353 observations. The series covers the span of time going from May 1997 to September 2026.
History. Here’s a quick look at a few summary statistics we calculated on the whole sample: the diffusion index was equal on average to -3.1; it registered a minimum of -46.0 in August 2000; it reached a maximum of 15.0 in May 2015.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2026-07-31 | 0 |
| 2026-08-31 | 0 |
| 2026-09-30 | 1.00000 |
Tip. We organize series into worksheets and datasets to facilitate exploration. By moving down the page, you will find how we structured further information linked to the statistics provided here.
Not for investment purposes. Data series and other information collected and published on this web site are not supposed to be used for investment purposes or other financial decisions. Users should seek professional advice and perform their own independent due diligence 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.