Manufacturing Business Outlook Survey: General business activity: Current (increase vs decrease; diffusion index; percentage points; seasonally unadjusted) - 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 based in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, the seasonally unadjusted diffusion index for general business activity (share of CEOs seeing a recent increase minus share reporting a decrease) was 4.2 in June 2026, compared to 0.0 in May 2026.
Sample. In this monthly series, there are 698 observations. The time range covered by the series is from May 1968 to June 2026.
History. Check out a few statistics we computed on the whole sample: the diffusion index recorded a minimum of -76.0 in December 1974; it recorded a maximum of 67.0 in March 1973; it averaged 8.8.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2026-04-30 | 25.9 |
| 2026-05-31 | 0.0 |
| 2026-06-30 | 4.2 |
Hint. Our metadata often contain references to the original sources of the data series we publish. You can use these references to search for additional information needed in your analyses.
Not for investment purposes. Any financial data available on this web site are not meant for investment purposes or as a basis for making financial decisions. Users should consult professional advice and do independent analysis before taking any financial risk.
Series Metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Description | Diffusion index for the question: Did general business activity 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 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) |
Series in the same data set
Discover the other time series included in this data set.