Fifth District Survey of Manufacturing Activity: Shipments: 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 shipments (share of CEOs seeing a recent increase minus share reporting a decrease) was -13.0 in November 2025, compared to 1.0 in the previous month.
Sample. This monthly time series has 387 records overall. The time range covered by the series goes from January 1993 to November 2025.
History. Here's a peek at a few statistics we computed on the full sample: the diffusion index had a mean value of 2.8; it reached its lowest level of -59.0 in January 2009; it hit a maximum of 46.0 in March 2004.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2025-09-30 | -13.0 |
| 2025-10-31 | 1.0 |
| 2025-11-30 | -13.0 |
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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 | 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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