Fifth District Survey of Manufacturing Activity: New orders: 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 new orders (share of CEOs seeing a recent increase minus share reporting a decrease) was -10.0 in January 2026, versus -12.0 in December 2025.
Sample. There are 389 records overall in the monthly series presented in the chart above. The series covers the time span extending from January 1993 to January 2026.
History. Here are some simple statistics calculated on the full sample: the diffusion index had an average value of 1.6; it hit a peak of 45.0 in April 2010; it registered a minimum of -56.0 in December 2008.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2025-11-30 | -22.0 |
| 2025-12-31 | -12.0 |
| 2026-01-31 | -10.0 |
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Series Metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Description | Diffusion index for the question: Did new orders 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) |
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