Nonmanufacturing Business Outlook Survey: Equipment and software expenditures: Current (increase vs decrease; diffusion index; percentage points; seasonally unadjusted) - United States - Philly FED - Monthly
This series is part of the dataset: Nonmanufacturing Business Outlook Survey (Philly FED)
Download Full Dataset (.xlsx)Latest updates. According to survey data about nonmanufacturing firms collected by the Federal Reserve in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, the seasonally unadjusted diffusion index for equipment and software expenditures (share of CEOs seeing a recent increase minus share reporting a decrease) was 32.4 in September 2026, versus 11.8 in August 2026.
Sample. There are 187 observations in the monthly series shown in the chart above. The period covered by the series stretches from March 2011 to September 2026.
History. Take a look at some simple statistics calculated on the entire sample: the diffusion index had an average value of 20.4; it reached its minimum of -39.1 in April 2020; it peaked at 48.1 in March 2012.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2026-07-31 | 28.2000 |
| 2026-08-31 | 11.8000 |
| 2026-09-30 | 32.4000 |
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Series Metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Description | Diffusion index for the question: Did capital expenditures on equipment and software 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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