Manufacturing Business Outlook Survey: Capital expenditures: Future (increase vs decrease; diffusion index; percentage points; seasonally adjusted) - United States - Philly FED - Monthly
This series is part of the dataset: Manufacturing Business Outlook Survey (Philly FED)
Download Full Dataset (.xlsx)Latest updates. According to survey data about manufacturers collected by the Federal Reserve in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, the seasonally adjusted diffusion index for capital expenditures (share of CEOs seeing a future increase minus share forecasting a decrease) was 41.2 in June 2026, compared to 30.9 in May.
Sample. In this monthly series, there are 698 records. The period covered by the series stretches from May 1968 to June 2026.
History. Have a look at a few statistics calculated on the full sample: the diffusion index reached a trough of -18.3 in December 2008; it reached a maximum of 51.1 in March 1973; it had an average value of 18.6.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2026-04-30 | 35.2 |
| 2026-05-31 | 30.9 |
| 2026-06-30 | 41.2 |
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Series Metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Description | Diffusion index for the question: Will capital expenditures 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 Philadelphia |
| 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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