Fifth District Survey of Non-Manufacturing Activity: Equipment and software expenditures: 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 Non-Manufacturing Activity (Richmond FED)
Download Full Dataset (.xlsx)Latest updates. Based on firms' responses to the Fifth District Survey of Non-Manufacturing Activity carried out by the Richmond FED, the seasonally unadjusted diffusion index for equipment and software expenditures (share of CEOs seeing a recent increase minus share reporting a decrease) stood at 1.0 in September 2026, compared to 4.0 in August.
Sample. This monthly series has 190 records in total. The series covers the period extending from December 2010 to September 2026.
History. Here’s a quick look at some simple statistics calculated on the full sample: the diffusion index hit a trough of -15.0 in April 2020; it reached a maximum of 33.0 in June 2018; it was equal on average to 12.3.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2026-07-31 | 5.00000 |
| 2026-08-31 | 4.00000 |
| 2026-09-30 | 1.00000 |
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Series Metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Description | Diffusion index for the question: Did equipment and software expenditures 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) |
| Other information | Not available |
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