Fifth District Survey of Non-Manufacturing Activity: Capital expenditures: Future (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 Non-Manufacturing Activity (Richmond FED)
Download Full Dataset (.xlsx)Latest updates. Based on firms' responses to the Fifth District Survey of Non-Manufacturing Activity carried out by the Richmond FED, the seasonally unadjusted diffusion index for capital expenditures (share of CEOs seeing a future increase minus share forecasting a decrease) stood at 6.0 in September 2026, compared to 12.0 in August 2026.
Sample. In this monthly series, there are 190 records. The series covers the span of time going from December 2010 to September 2026.
History. Here’s a quick look at a few descriptive statistics computed on the full sample: the diffusion index had a mean value of 17.4; it registered a minimum of -36.0 in April 2020; it achieved a maximum of 39.0 in January 2018.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2026-07-31 | 5.00000 |
| 2026-08-31 | 12.0000 |
| 2026-09-30 | 6.00000 |
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Series Metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Description | Diffusion index for the question: Will capital expenditures 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 | 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) |
| Other information | Not available |
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