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 survey data about NY-based manufacturers, the seasonally adjusted diffusion index for general business activity (share of CEOs seeing a recent increase minus share reporting a decrease) was 11.0 in April 2026, versus -0.2 in March.
Sample. In this monthly series, there are 298 observations. The series covers the time period stretching from July 2001 to April 2026.
History. Check out a few simple statistics we computed on the full sample: the diffusion index had a mean of 6.3; it reached a trough of -80.0 in April 2020; it peaked at 39.0 in April 2004.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2026-02-28 | 7.1 |
| 2026-03-31 | -0.2 |
| 2026-04-30 | 11.0 |
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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) |
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