Fifth District Survey of Manufacturing Activity: Unfilled orders: Future (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. According to survey data about manufacturers based in the Fifth District, the seasonally adjusted diffusion index for unfilled orders (share of CEOs seeing a future increase minus share forecasting a decrease) stood at 10.0 in May 2026, versus 0.0 in April 2026.
Sample. This monthly series has a total of 351 records. The series covers the span of time going from January 1997 to May 2026.
History. Check out some statistics we computed on the full sample: the diffusion index reached its highest level of 39.0 in February 2002; it reached a minimum of -32.0 in April 2020; it had a mean value of 11.0.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2026-03-31 | 3.0 |
| 2026-04-30 | 0.0 |
| 2026-05-31 | 10.0 |
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Series Metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Description | Diffusion index for the question: Will unfilled orders increase or decrease over the next six months? |
| Country | United States |
| Economic concept | Business survey response |
| Data type | Leading 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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