Fifth District Survey of Manufacturing Activity: Capacity utilization: Future (increase vs decrease; diffusion index; percentage points; seasonally unadjusted) - 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 unadjusted diffusion index for capacity utilization (share of CEOs seeing a future increase minus share reporting a decrease) stood at 22.0 in February 2026, versus 20.0 in January 2026.
Sample. In this monthly time series, there are 348 records overall. The series covers the time range extending from January 1997 to February 2026.
History. Have a look at a few simple statistics computed on the full sample: the diffusion index had a mean of 22.6; it hit a minimum of -12.0 in October 2022; it reached its highest level of 50.0 in February 2017.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2025-12-31 | 15.0 |
| 2026-01-31 | 20.0 |
| 2026-02-28 | 22.0 |
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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 | No |
| 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) |
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