Nonmanufacturing Business Outlook Survey: Physical plant expenditures: Current (increase vs decrease; diffusion index; percentage points; seasonally adjusted) - 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 adjusted diffusion index for physical plant expenditures (share of CEOs seeing a recent increase minus share reporting a decrease) was 22.9 in September 2026, compared to -0.6 in August 2026.
Sample. This monthly time series has 187 observations in total. The series covers the time span going from March 2011 to September 2026.
History. Have a look at a few simple statistics calculated on the whole sample: the diffusion index had a mean of 12.5; it recorded a bottom of -40.3 in April 2020; it reached a maximum of 36.6 in May 2011.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2026-07-31 | 14.1000 |
| 2026-08-31 | -0.600000 |
| 2026-09-30 | 22.9000 |
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Series Metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Description | Diffusion index for the question: Did capital expenditures on physical plant 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 | 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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