Manufacturing Business Outlook Survey: Shipments: Current (increase vs decrease; diffusion index; percentage points; seasonally unadjusted) - United States - Philly FED - Monthly
This series is part of the dataset: Manufacturing Business Outlook Survey (Philly FED)
Download Full Dataset (.xlsx)Latest updates. Based on firms' responses to the Manufacturing Business Outlook Survey carried out by the Philadelphia FED, the seasonally unadjusted diffusion index for shipments (share of CEOs seeing a recent increase minus share reporting a decrease) stood at 32.0 in September 2026, compared to 29.2 in August 2026.
Sample. There are 701 data points overall in the monthly time series presented in the graph above. The span of time covered by the series goes from May 1968 to September 2026.
History. Check out a few descriptive statistics computed on the whole sample: the diffusion index averaged 13.1; it hit a minimum of -71.4 in April 2020; it recorded its maximum of 65.0 in March 1973.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2026-07-31 | 37.9000 |
| 2026-08-31 | 29.2000 |
| 2026-09-30 | 32.0000 |
Heads-up. To make our users' life easier, we group indicators into worksheets and datasets. When you look below, you will find how we arranged further information linked to the statistics provided here.
Not for investment purposes. Data and analyses made available on FetchSeries are not supposed to be used for investment purposes or as a basis for financial-decision making. 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: 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 Philadelphia |
| 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.