Fifth District Survey of Manufacturing Activity: Inventories of finished goods: 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. According to survey data about manufacturers based in the Fifth District, the seasonally unadjusted diffusion index for inventories of finished goods (share of CEOs seeing a recent increase minus share reporting a decrease) was 17.0 in November 2025, versus 16.0 in October 2025.
Sample. There are 345 observations overall in the monthly series presented in the figure above. The time span covered by the series extends from January 1997 to November 2025.
History. Have a look at a few summary statistics we computed on the entire sample: the diffusion index reached its highest level of 48.0 in September 2000; it reached its lowest level of -22.0 in November 2021; it had an average value of 17.6.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2025-09-30 | 10.0 |
| 2025-10-31 | 16.0 |
| 2025-11-30 | 17.0 |
Heads-up. One of the pluses of using our web site is that we give you accurate metadata. Check it below to learn more about the characteristics of the time series that you analyze.
Not for investment purposes. Data found on this web site are not not supposed to be used for investment purposes or other financial decisions. Users should consult expert advice and do their own independent due diligence before making any financial commitments.
Series Metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Description | Diffusion index for the question: Did finished goods inventories 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.