Surveys

Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey

February 26, 2018

Results Table

Business Indicators Relating to Facilities and Products in Texas Current (versus previous month)
Indicator	Feb Index	Jan Index	Change	Indicator Direction*	Trend** (Months)	% Reporting Increase	% Reporting No Change	% Reporting Decrease
Production	27.9	16.8	+11.1	Increasing	20	41.3	45.3	13.4
Capacity Utilization	19.6	14.5	+5.1	Increasing	20	34.3	51.0	14.7
New Orders	25.3	25.5	–0.2	Increasing	16	39.1	47.0	13.8
Growth Rate of Orders	15.3	15.5	–0.2	Increasing	14	31.0	53.3	15.7
Unfilled Orders	11.5	7.1	+4.4	Increasing	14	22.3	66.9	10.8
Shipments	32.1	27.1	+5.0	Increasing	15	45.1	42.0	13.0
Delivery Time	4.8	9.0	–4.2	Increasing	8	15.5	73.8	10.7
Finished Goods Inventories	7.6	0.0	+7.6	Increasing	1	20.8	66.0	13.2
Prices Paid for Raw Materials	39.8	33.5	+6.3	Increasing	24	43.0	53.8	3.2
Prices Received for Finished Goods	22.5	22.3	+0.2	Increasing	19	27.6	67.3	5.1
Wages and Benefits	32.2	23.3	+8.9	Increasing	99	32.9	66.4	0.7
Employment	19.1	15.2	+3.9	Increasing	14	29.6	59.9	10.5
Hours Worked	16.3	13.4	+2.9	Increasing	16	28.7	58.9	12.4
Capital Expenditures	23.7	20.0	+3.7	Increasing	18	25.2	73.3	1.5

General Business Conditions Current (versus previous month)
Indicator	Feb Index	Jan Index	Change	Indicator Direction*	Trend** (Months)	% Reporting Improved	% Reporting No Change	% Reporting Worsened
Company Outlook	31.5	27.8	+3.7	Improving	18	38.7	54.1	7.2
General Business Activity	37.2	33.4	+3.8	Improving	17	45.3	46.6	8.1


Indicator	Feb Index	Jan Index	Change	Indicator Direction*	Trend** (Months)	% Reporting Increase	% Reporting No Change	% Reporting Decrease
Outlook Uncertainty†	–5.8	–8.3	+2.5	Decreasing	2	13.6	67.0	19.4

Business Indicators Relating to Facilities and Products in Texas Future (six months ahead)
Indicator	Feb Index	Jan Index	Change	Indicator Direction	Trend* (Months)	% Reporting Increase	% Reporting No Change	% Reporting Decrease
Production	46.0	51.6	–5.6	Increasing	108	54.5	37.0	8.5
Capacity Utilization	45.9	46.4	–0.5	Increasing	108	53.8	38.3	7.9
New Orders	49.6	51.2	–1.6	Increasing	108	55.3	39.0	5.7
Growth Rate of Orders	37.5	40.4	–2.9	Increasing	108	41.3	54.9	3.8
Unfilled Orders	18.2	14.0	+4.2	Increasing	29	25.3	67.6	7.1
Shipments	44.4	50.2	–5.8	Increasing	108	52.2	40.0	7.8
Delivery Time	2.8	5.7	–2.9	Increasing	15	12.7	77.4	9.9
Finished Goods Inventories	5.9	11.7	–5.8	Increasing	4	17.8	70.3	11.9
Prices Paid for Raw Materials	43.0	44.0	–1.0	Increasing	107	48.0	47.0	5.0
Prices Received for Finished Goods	31.6	36.2	–4.6	Increasing	25	36.6	58.4	5.0
Wages and Benefits	49.7	56.9	–7.2	Increasing	165	49.7	50.3	0.0
Employment	34.0	44.5	–10.5	Increasing	63	41.9	50.2	7.9
Hours Worked	15.1	14.4	+0.7	Increasing	21	23.1	68.9	8.0
Capital Expenditures	39.6	36.2	+3.4	Increasing	99	43.6	52.5	4.0

General Business Conditions Future (six months ahead)
Indicator	Feb Index	Jan Index	Change	Indicator Direction*	Trend** (Months)	% Reporting Increase	% Reporting No Change	% Reporting Worsened
Company Outlook	34.5	43.2	–8.7	Improving	25	41.1	52.3	6.6
General Business Activity	40.6	44.5	–3.9	Improving	21	45.7	49.3	5.1

*Indicator direction refers to this month's index. If index is positive (negative), indicator is increasing (decreasing) or improving (worsening). If zero, indicator is unchanged.

**Number of months moving in current direction.

†Added to survey in January 2018.

Data have been seasonally adjusted as necessary, with the exception of the outlook uncertainty index which does not yet have a sufficiently long time series to test for seasonality.

Questions regarding the Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey can be addressed to Emily Kerr at emily.kerr@dal.frb.org.