Nonmanufacturing Business Outlook Survey: Firm-level 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: Nonmanufacturing Business Outlook Survey (Philly FED)
Download Full Dataset (.xlsx)Latest updates. Based on firms' responses to the Nonmanufacturing Business Outlook Survey carried out by the Philadelphia FED, the seasonally unadjusted diffusion index for firm-level general business activity (share of CEOs seeing a recent increase minus share reporting a decrease) was 0.0 in September 2026, compared to -11.8 in August.
Sample. In this monthly series, there are 187 data points overall. The series covers the time span extending from March 2011 to September 2026.
History. Here’s a quick look at a few summary statistics computed on the entire sample: the diffusion index peaked at 70.4 in March 2012; it recorded a bottom of -71.0 in April 2020; it had a mean of 19.5.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2026-07-31 | 15.4000 |
| 2026-08-31 | -11.8000 |
| 2026-09-30 | 0 |
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Series Metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Description | Diffusion index for the question: Did firm-level 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) |
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