Surveys

Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey

September 24, 2018

Results Table

Business Indicators Relating to Facilities and Products in Texas Current (versus previous month)
Indicator	Sep Index	Aug Index	Change	Indicator Direction*	Trend** (Months)	% Reporting Increase	% Reporting No Change	% Reporting Decrease
Production	23.3	29.3	–6.0	Increasing	27	31.9	59.5	8.6
Capacity Utilization	21.6	25.2	–3.6	Increasing	27	29.7	62.2	8.1
New Orders	14.7	23.9	–9.2	Increasing	23	28.2	58.3	13.5
Growth Rate of Orders	11.5	19.9	–8.4	Increasing	21	24.2	63.1	12.7
Unfilled Orders	1.8	9.1	–7.3	Increasing	18	13.4	75.0	11.6
Shipments	20.8	26.0	–5.2	Increasing	22	29.9	61.0	9.1
Delivery Time	4.1	8.9	–4.8	Increasing	15	13.6	76.9	9.5
Finished Goods Inventories	6.0	13.9	–7.9	Increasing	2	12.9	80.2	6.9
Prices Paid for Raw Materials	44.4	45.3	–0.9	Increasing	31	45.0	54.4	0.6
Prices Received for Finished Goods	13.6	15.3	–1.7	Increasing	26	20.4	72.8	6.8
Wages and Benefits	33.0	33.4	–0.4	Increasing	110	34.9	63.2	1.9
Employment	17.7	28.9	–11.2	Increasing	21	25.1	67.5	7.4
Hours Worked	12.7	19.0	–6.3	Increasing	23	18.1	76.5	5.4
Capital Expenditures	17.0	25.1	–8.1	Increasing	25	21.0	74.9	4.0

General Business Conditions Current (versus previous month)
Indicator	Sep Index	Aug Index	Change	Indicator Direction*	Trend** (Months)	% Reporting Improved	% Reporting No Change	% Reporting Worsened
Company Outlook	18.2	27.3	–9.1	Improving	25	25.6	67.0	7.4
General Business Activity	28.1	30.9	–2.8	Improving	23	31.4	65.3	3.3


Indicator	Sep Index	Aug Index	Change	Indicator Direction*	Trend** (Months)	% Reporting Increase	% Reporting No Change	% Reporting Decrease
Outlook Uncertainty†	19.9	16.2	+3.7	Increasing	4	25.9	68.1	6.0

Business Indicators Relating to Facilities and Products in Texas Future (six months ahead)
Indicator	Sep Index	Aug Index	Change	Indicator Direction	Trend* (Months)	% Reporting Increase	% Reporting No Change	% Reporting Decrease
Production	43.7	46.6	–2.9	Increasing	115	49.5	44.7	5.8
Capacity Utilization	41.0	38.2	+2.8	Increasing	115	48.0	45.0	7.0
New Orders	44.9	47.4	–2.5	Increasing	115	48.8	47.3	3.9
Growth Rate of Orders	37.2	40.4	–3.2	Increasing	115	42.3	52.6	5.1
Unfilled Orders	12.7	9.7	+3.0	Increasing	36	20.7	71.3	8.0
Shipments	42.2	49.2	–7.0	Increasing	115	46.9	48.4	4.7
Delivery Time	5.7	7.1	–1.4	Increasing	22	11.9	81.9	6.2
Finished Goods Inventories	10.3	9.9	+0.4	Increasing	11	18.7	72.9	8.4
Prices Paid for Raw Materials	43.0	43.5	–0.5	Increasing	114	46.7	49.5	3.7
Prices Received for Finished Goods	28.0	32.0	–4.0	Increasing	32	35.5	57.0	7.5
Wages and Benefits	57.4	45.5	+11.9	Increasing	172	57.8	41.8	0.4
Employment	39.4	42.2	–2.8	Increasing	70	42.8	53.8	3.4
Hours Worked	11.4	11.3	+0.1	Increasing	28	17.8	75.8	6.4
Capital Expenditures	37.8	39.9	–2.1	Increasing	106	41.0	55.8	3.2

General Business Conditions Future (six months ahead)
Indicator	Sep Index	Aug Index	Change	Indicator Direction*	Trend** (Months)	% Reporting Increase	% Reporting No Change	% Reporting Worsened
Company Outlook	33.8	34.3	–0.5	Improving	32	38.8	56.2	5.0
General Business Activity	38.0	34.7	+3.3	Improving	28	40.2	57.6	2.2

*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.