Fifth District Survey of Manufacturing Activity: Shipments: Current (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. According to survey data about manufacturers collected by the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, the seasonally unadjusted diffusion index for shipments (share of CEOs seeing a recent increase minus share reporting a decrease) was -13.0 in September 2025, versus -9.0 in August 2025.
Sample. In this monthly time series, there are 290 records. The series covers the time span extending from January 1993 to September 2025.
History. Here's a peek at some statistics computed on the full sample: the diffusion index averaged 3.9; it reached its minimum of -44.0 in February 2008; it peaked at 46.0 in March 2004.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2025-07-31 | -17.0 |
| 2025-08-31 | -9.0 |
| 2025-09-30 | -13.0 |
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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 | 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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