Fifth District Survey of Manufacturing Activity: Shipments: Current (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 shipments (share of CEOs seeing a recent increase minus share reporting a decrease) was -20.0 in September 2025, compared to -5.0 in the previous month.
Sample. There are 290 records in the monthly time series displayed in the figure above. The series covers the period extending from January 1993 to September 2025.
History. Here's a snapshot of a few summary statistics calculated on the whole sample: the diffusion index reached a minimum of -71.0 in April 2020; it peaked at 36.0 in March 2004; it had a mean of 2.7.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2025-07-31 | -18.0 |
| 2025-08-31 | -5.0 |
| 2025-09-30 | -20.0 |
Nugget of wisdom. An advantage of using our web site is that we publish complete metadata. Find it below to learn more about the characteristics of the indicators that you use in your research.
Not for investment purposes. Time series and other data distributed on FetchSeries are not suitable for investment purposes or other financial decisions. Users should seek professional advice and do their own independent due diligence before pledging money to any investment.
Series Metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Description | Diffusion index for the question: Did shipments increase or decrease in the past month? |
| Country | United States |
| Economic concept | Business survey response |
| Data type | Coincident 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.