Fifth District Survey of Manufacturing Activity: Shipments: 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 shipments (share of CEOs seeing a recent increase minus share reporting a decrease) stood at 16.0 in May 2026, compared to -2.0 in April.
Sample. There are 393 records overall in the monthly series presented in the plot above. The time range covered by the series extends from January 1993 to May 2026.
History. Here's a glimpse of some summary statistics computed on the full sample: the diffusion index had a mean of 2.8; it reached a maximum of 36.0 in March 2004; it reached its minimum of -71.0 in April 2020.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2026-03-31 | -2.0 |
| 2026-04-30 | -2.0 |
| 2026-05-31 | 16.0 |
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Series Metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Description | Diffusion index for the question: Did shipments 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) |
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