Fifth District Survey of Manufacturing Activity: Vendor lead times: 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 based in the Fifth District, the seasonally unadjusted diffusion index for vendor lead times (share of CEOs seeing a recent increase minus share reporting a decrease) was 9.0 in September 2026, compared to 15.0 in August 2026.
Sample. There are 363 data points overall in the monthly time series shown in the chart above. The series covers the time range stretching from July 1996 to September 2026.
History. Here are a few descriptive statistics computed on the entire sample: the diffusion index registered a minimum of -32.0 in December 2022; it recorded its highest level of 73.0 in May 2021; it had a mean of 6.4.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2026-07-31 | 17.0000 |
| 2026-08-31 | 15.0000 |
| 2026-09-30 | 9.00000 |
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Series Metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Description | Diffusion index for the question: Did vendor lead times 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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