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. Based on a sample of manufacturing firms surveyd by the FED, the seasonally adjusted diffusion index for general business activity (share of CEOs seeing a recent increase minus share reporting a decrease) stood at 7.7 in January 2026, compared to -3.7 in December 2025.
Sample. There are 295 observations in the monthly series shown in the figure above. The series covers the span of time going from July 2001 to January 2026.
History. Here's a snapshot of some summary statistics computed on the full sample: the diffusion index had a mean value of 6.3; it reached a minimum of -80.0 in April 2020; it achieved a maximum of 39.0 in April 2004.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2025-11-30 | 13.5 |
| 2025-12-31 | -3.7 |
| 2026-01-31 | 7.7 |
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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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