Fifth District Survey of Manufacturing Activity: Capital expenditures: Current (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 firms' responses to the Fifth District Survey of Manufacturing Activity carried out by the Richmond FED, the seasonally unadjusted diffusion index for capital expenditures (share of CEOs seeing a recent increase minus share reporting a decrease) stood at -10.0 in April 2026, versus -7.0 in March 2026.
Sample. There are 186 data points in the monthly time series shown in the plot above. The span of time covered by the series extends from February 2010 to April 2026.
History. Here's a snapshot of some summary statistics computed on the whole sample: the diffusion index had an average value of 8.6; it reached its maximum of 31.0 in April 2018; it recorded a bottom of -29.0 in May 2020.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2026-02-28 | -7.0 |
| 2026-03-31 | -7.0 |
| 2026-04-30 | -10.0 |
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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 | 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) |
Series in the same data set
Discover the other time series included in this data set.