Empire State Manufacturing Survey: General business activity: Current (increase vs decrease; diffusion index; percentage points; seasonally adjusted) - United States - NY FED - Monthly
This series is part of the dataset: Empire State Manufacturing Survey (NY FED)
Download Full Dataset (.xlsx)Latest updates. According to recent survey data about manufacturing firms in the State of New York, the seasonally adjusted diffusion index for general business activity (share of CEOs seeing a recent increase minus share reporting a decrease) was -0.2 in March 2026, compared to 7.1 in February 2026.
Sample. There are 297 records in the monthly series shown in the chart above. The series covers the time span going from July 2001 to March 2026.
History. Take a look at a few simple statistics we calculated on the whole sample: the diffusion index reached its maximum of 39.0 in April 2004; it reached a trough of -80.0 in April 2020; it averaged 6.3.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2026-01-31 | 7.7 |
| 2026-02-28 | 7.1 |
| 2026-03-31 | -0.2 |
Tip. We group indicators into data sets and worksheets for easier exploration. If you look below, you will discover how we structured further information related to the statistics found here.
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Series Metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Description | Diffusion index for the question: Did general business activity 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 New York |
| Source type | Central bank |
| Data licence | Free use subject to conditions |
| Measure type | Diffusion index (share of respondents reporting an increase minus share reporting a decrease) |
Series in the same data set
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