Surveys

Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey

November 26, 2018

Results Table

Business Indicators Relating to Facilities and Products in Texas Current (versus previous month)
Indicator	Nov Index	Oct Index	Change	Indicator Direction*	Trend** (Months)	% Reporting Increase	% Reporting No Change	% Reporting Decrease
Production	8.4	17.6	–9.2	Increasing	29	24.9	58.6	16.5
Capacity Utilization	9.4	15.4	–6.0	Increasing	29	23.7	62.0	14.3
New Orders	9.7	18.9	–9.2	Increasing	25	29.6	50.5	19.9
Growth Rate of Orders	4.8	11.0	–6.2	Increasing	23	20.7	63.4	15.9
Unfilled Orders	4.5	5.9	–1.4	Increasing	20	16.3	71.9	11.8
Shipments	7.7	16.6	–8.9	Increasing	24	29.4	49.0	21.7
Delivery Time	1.8	7.5	–5.7	Increasing	17	10.0	81.8	8.2
Finished Goods Inventories	2.6	2.6	0.0	Increasing	4	15.9	70.8	13.3
Prices Paid for Raw Materials	33.7	54.4	–20.7	Increasing	33	41.8	50.1	8.1
Prices Received for Finished Goods	7.5	17.5	–10.0	Increasing	28	15.2	77.1	7.7
Wages and Benefits	24.9	32.9	–8.0	Increasing	112	26.1	72.7	1.2
Employment	15.9	23.9	–8.0	Increasing	23	22.7	70.5	6.8
Hours Worked	4.9	6.5	–1.6	Increasing	25	15.1	74.7	10.2
Capital Expenditures	9.2	24.5	–15.3	Increasing	27	17.2	74.8	8.0

General Business Conditions Current (versus previous month)
Indicator	Nov Index	Oct Index	Change	Indicator Direction*	Trend** (Months)	% Reporting Improved	% Reporting No Change	% Reporting Worsened
Company Outlook	13.7	25.0	–11.3	Improving	27	21.3	71.1	7.6
General Business Activity	17.6	29.4	–11.8	Improving	25	25.2	67.2	7.6


Indicator	Nov Index	Oct Index	Change	Indicator Direction*	Trend** (Months)	% Reporting Increase	% Reporting No Change	% Reporting Decrease
Outlook Uncertainty†	12.3	6.9	+5.4	Increasing	6	21.9	68.4	9.6

Business Indicators Relating to Facilities and Products in Texas Future (six months ahead)
Indicator	Nov Index	Oct Index	Change	Indicator Direction	Trend* (Months)	% Reporting Increase	% Reporting No Change	% Reporting Decrease
Production	52.9	47.9	+5.0	Increasing	117	58.2	36.5	5.3
Capacity Utilization	43.4	38.9	+4.5	Increasing	117	49.3	44.7	5.9
New Orders	47.8	46.1	+1.7	Increasing	117	53.3	41.2	5.5
Growth Rate of Orders	32.1	36.5	–4.4	Increasing	117	37.0	58.1	4.9
Unfilled Orders	6.9	11.3	–4.4	Increasing	38	15.2	76.5	8.3
Shipments	46.4	51.7	–5.3	Increasing	117	53.5	39.4	7.1
Delivery Time	1.7	9.8	–8.1	Increasing	24	11.6	78.5	9.9
Finished Goods Inventories	3.8	11.3	–7.5	Increasing	13	14.4	75.0	10.6
Prices Paid for Raw Materials	36.2	42.1	–5.9	Increasing	116	41.9	52.4	5.7
Prices Received for Finished Goods	29.2	27.1	+2.1	Increasing	34	35.0	59.2	5.8
Wages and Benefits	44.8	51.4	–6.6	Increasing	174	45.9	53.0	1.1
Employment	42.0	32.8	+9.2	Increasing	72	46.6	48.7	4.6
Hours Worked	9.3	14.3	–5.0	Increasing	30	14.7	79.9	5.4
Capital Expenditures	34.1	28.0	+6.1	Increasing	108	40.9	52.3	6.8

General Business Conditions Future (six months ahead)
Indicator	Nov Index	Oct Index	Change	Indicator Direction*	Trend** (Months)	% Reporting Increase	% Reporting No Change	% Reporting Worsened
Company Outlook	31.4	37.3	–5.9	Improving	34	37.9	55.6	6.5
General Business Activity	25.7	35.6	–9.9	Improving	30	34.9	55.9	9.2

*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.