Surveys

Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey

October 29, 2018

Results Table

Business Indicators Relating to Facilities and Products in Texas Current (versus previous month)
Indicator	Oct Index	Sep Index	Change	Indicator Direction*	Trend** (Months)	% Reporting Increase	% Reporting No Change	% Reporting Decrease
Production	17.6	23.3	–5.7	Increasing	28	31.9	53.8	14.3
Capacity Utilization	15.4	21.6	–6.2	Increasing	28	26.5	62.4	11.1
New Orders	18.9	14.7	+4.2	Increasing	24	35.8	47.3	16.9
Growth Rate of Orders	11.0	11.5	–0.5	Increasing	22	25.1	60.8	14.1
Unfilled Orders	5.9	1.8	+4.1	Increasing	19	18.0	69.9	12.1
Shipments	16.6	20.8	–4.2	Increasing	23	31.3	54.0	14.7
Delivery Time	7.5	4.1	+3.4	Increasing	16	16.6	74.3	9.1
Finished Goods Inventories	2.6	6.0	–3.4	Increasing	3	19.7	63.2	17.1
Prices Paid for Raw Materials	54.4	44.4	+10.0	Increasing	32	54.7	45.0	0.3
Prices Received for Finished Goods	17.5	13.6	+3.9	Increasing	27	19.8	77.9	2.3
Wages and Benefits	32.9	33.0	–0.1	Increasing	111	33.4	66.1	0.5
Employment	23.9	17.7	+6.2	Increasing	22	27.6	68.7	3.7
Hours Worked	6.5	12.7	–6.2	Increasing	24	15.5	75.5	9.0
Capital Expenditures	24.5	17.0	+7.5	Increasing	26	28.5	67.5	4.0

General Business Conditions Current (versus previous month)
Indicator	Oct Index	Sep Index	Change	Indicator Direction*	Trend** (Months)	% Reporting Improved	% Reporting No Change	% Reporting Worsened
Company Outlook	25.0	18.2	+6.8	Improving	26	27.5	70.0	2.5
General Business Activity	29.4	28.1	+1.3	Improving	24	31.0	67.4	1.6


Indicator	Oct Index	Sep Index	Change	Indicator Direction*	Trend** (Months)	% Reporting Increase	% Reporting No Change	% Reporting Decrease
Outlook Uncertainty†	6.9	19.9	–13.0	Increasing	5	22.6	61.7	15.7

Business Indicators Relating to Facilities and Products in Texas Future (six months ahead)
Indicator	Oct Index	Sep Index	Change	Indicator Direction	Trend* (Months)	% Reporting Increase	% Reporting No Change	% Reporting Decrease
Production	47.9	43.7	+4.2	Increasing	116	54.7	38.5	6.8
Capacity Utilization	38.9	41.0	–2.1	Increasing	116	45.7	47.5	6.8
New Orders	46.1	44.9	+1.2	Increasing	116	51.5	43.1	5.4
Growth Rate of Orders	36.5	37.2	–0.7	Increasing	116	40.8	54.9	4.3
Unfilled Orders	11.3	12.7	–1.4	Increasing	37	19.9	71.5	8.6
Shipments	51.7	42.2	+9.5	Increasing	116	56.8	38.1	5.1
Delivery Time	9.8	5.7	+4.1	Increasing	23	15.4	79.0	5.6
Finished Goods Inventories	11.3	10.3	+1.0	Increasing	12	22.6	66.0	11.3
Prices Paid for Raw Materials	42.1	43.0	–0.9	Increasing	115	47.7	46.7	5.6
Prices Received for Finished Goods	27.1	28.0	–0.9	Increasing	33	33.6	59.8	6.5
Wages and Benefits	51.4	57.4	–6.0	Increasing	173	51.4	48.6	0.0
Employment	32.8	39.4	–6.6	Increasing	71	39.0	54.8	6.2
Hours Worked	14.3	11.4	+2.9	Increasing	29	17.7	78.9	3.4
Capital Expenditures	28.0	37.8	–9.8	Increasing	107	33.9	60.2	5.9

General Business Conditions Future (six months ahead)
Indicator	Oct Index	Sep Index	Change	Indicator Direction*	Trend** (Months)	% Reporting Increase	% Reporting No Change	% Reporting Worsened
Company Outlook	37.3	33.8	+3.5	Improving	33	42.2	52.9	4.9
General Business Activity	35.6	38.0	–2.4	Improving	29	40.4	54.8	4.8

*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.