Fifth District Survey of Manufacturing Activity: Capacity utilization: Future (increase vs decrease; diffusion index; percentage points; seasonally adjusted) - United States - Richmond FED - Monthly
This series is part of the dataset: Fifth District Survey of Manufacturing Activity (Richmond FED)
Download Full Dataset (.xlsx)Latest updates. Based on a sample of manufacturing firms surveyd by the FED, the seasonally adjusted diffusion index for capacity utilization (share of CEOs seeing a future increase minus share reporting a decrease) was 10.0 in April 2026, compared to 19.0 in March 2026.
Sample. This monthly time series has 350 records in total. The span of time covered by the series is from January 1997 to April 2026.
History. Have a look at a few statistics calculated on the entire sample: the diffusion index had an average value of 22.6; it reached a trough of -11.0 in April 2020; it recorded its maximum of 52.0 in June 2020.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2026-02-28 | 15.0 |
| 2026-03-31 | 19.0 |
| 2026-04-30 | 10.0 |
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Series Metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Description | Diffusion index for the question: Will capacity utilization 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 | Yes |
| 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) |
Series in the same data set
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