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) was 15.0 in July 2026, versus 22.0 in June.
Sample. There are 353 records overall in the monthly series presented in the plot above. The time range covered by the series is from January 1997 to July 2026.
History. Take a look at a few summary statistics we computed on the entire sample: the diffusion index had a mean value of 22.6; it recorded its maximum of 50.0 in February 2017; it registered a minimum of -12.0 in October 2022.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2026-05-31 | 27.0 |
| 2026-06-30 | 22.0 |
| 2026-07-31 | 15.0 |
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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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