Fifth District Survey of Manufacturing Activity: New orders: 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 recent survey data about manufacturing firms in the Fifth District, the seasonally adjusted diffusion index for new orders (share of CEOs seeing a future increase minus share forecasting a decrease) was 32.0 in September 2026, unchanged with respect to August 2026.
Sample. In this monthly series, there are a total of 353 observations. The series covers the time span going from May 1997 to September 2026.
History. Take a look at some summary statistics we computed on the full sample: the diffusion index recorded a bottom of -20.0 in April 2025; it recorded its maximum of 62.0 in February 2002; it had a mean of 29.1.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2026-07-31 | 31.0000 |
| 2026-08-31 | 32.0000 |
| 2026-09-30 | 32.0000 |
Nugget of wisdom. One of the pluses of using our web site is that we give you rich metadata. Find them below to learn more about the characteristics of the indicators that you use in your research.
Not for investment purposes. Any financial data collected and published on this web site are not meant for investment purposes or other financial decisions. Users should ask for professional advice and do independent analysis before pledging money to any investment.
Series Metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Description | Diffusion index for the question: Will new orders 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.