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 a sample of manufacturing firms surveyd by the FED, the seasonally unadjusted diffusion index for new orders (share of CEOs seeing a recent increase minus share reporting a decrease) was -9.0 in September 2025, compared to -13.0 in August.
Sample. There are 290 data points overall in the monthly series displayed in the graph above. The series covers the period going from January 1993 to September 2025.
History. Here’s a quick look at a few statistics computed on the whole sample: the diffusion index reached its maximum of 45.0 in April 2010; it recorded a minimum of -56.0 in February 2008; it had an average value of 2.1.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2025-07-31 | -29.0 |
| 2025-08-31 | -13.0 |
| 2025-09-30 | -9.0 |
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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) |