Fifth District Survey of Manufacturing Activity: Capital expenditures: Current (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 capital expenditures (share of CEOs seeing a recent increase minus share reporting a decrease) stood at -11.0 in April 2026, compared to -6.0 in March 2026.
Sample. There are 186 data points overall in the monthly series presented in the plot above. The period covered by the series goes from February 2010 to April 2026.
History. Take a look at some summary statistics computed on the entire sample: the diffusion index averaged 8.7; it reached a trough of -31.0 in May 2020; it reached its highest level of 29.0 in September 2014.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2026-02-28 | -5.0 |
| 2026-03-31 | -6.0 |
| 2026-04-30 | -11.0 |
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Series Metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Description | Diffusion index for the question: Did capital expenditures 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 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
Discover the other time series included in this data set.