Manufacturing Business Outlook Survey: Inventories: 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 collected by the Federal Reserve in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, the seasonally unadjusted diffusion index for inventories (share of CEOs seeing a recent increase minus share reporting a decrease) was -8.0 in September 2026, compared to -8.3 in August 2026.
Sample. This monthly series has 701 data points in total. The period covered by the series is from May 1968 to September 2026.
History. Here’s a quick look at some statistics calculated on the entire sample: the diffusion index averaged -5.1; it reached its lowest level of -48.0 in March 1975; it recorded a maximum of 29.0 in March 1973.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2026-07-31 | 0.0 |
| 2026-08-31 | -8.3 |
| 2026-09-30 | -8.0 |
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Series Metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Description | Diffusion index for the question: Did inventories 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) |
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