Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey
March 25, 2019
Results Table
Business Indicators Relating to Facilities and Products in Texas Current (versus previous month) | ||||||||
Indicator | Mar Index | Feb Index | Change | Indicator Direction* | Trend** (Months) | % Reporting Increase | % Reporting No Change | % Reporting Decrease |
Production | 11.5 | 10.1 | +1.4 | Increasing | 33 | 28.8 | 53.8 | 17.3 |
Capacity Utilization | 10.9 | 7.1 | +3.8 | Increasing | 33 | 26.9 | 57.1 | 16.0 |
New Orders | 2.4 | 6.9 | –4.5 | Increasing | 29 | 20.7 | 61.0 | 18.3 |
Growth Rate of Orders | –1.9 | 3.4 | –5.3 | Decreasing | 1 | 17.3 | 63.5 | 19.2 |
Unfilled Orders | 0.5 | 0.7 | –0.2 | Increasing | 3 | 14.7 | 71.1 | 14.2 |
Shipments | 5.8 | 10.7 | –4.9 | Increasing | 28 | 24.5 | 56.8 | 18.7 |
Delivery Time | 4.1 | –1.3 | +5.4 | Increasing | 1 | 14.3 | 75.5 | 10.2 |
Finished Goods Inventories | 1.7 | –2.5 | +4.2 | Increasing | 1 | 17.5 | 66.7 | 15.8 |
Prices Paid for Raw Materials | 20.4 | 21.8 | –1.4 | Increasing | 37 | 27.1 | 66.2 | 6.7 |
Prices Received for Finished Goods | 6.9 | 5.2 | +1.7 | Increasing | 32 | 13.6 | 79.7 | 6.7 |
Wages and Benefits | 30.1 | 28.9 | +1.2 | Increasing | 116 | 32.2 | 65.7 | 2.1 |
Employment | 13.1 | 12.6 | +0.5 | Increasing | 27 | 22.2 | 68.7 | 9.1 |
Hours Worked | 4.6 | 1.8 | +2.8 | Increasing | 29 | 18.8 | 67.0 | 14.2 |
Capital Expenditures | 12.1 | 18.7 | –6.6 | Increasing | 31 | 16.6 | 78.9 | 4.5 |
General Business Conditions Current (versus previous month) | ||||||||
Indicator | Mar Index | Feb Index | Change | Indicator Direction* | Trend** (Months) | % Reporting Improved | % Reporting No Change | % Reporting Worsened |
Company Outlook | 6.0 | 14.2 | –8.2 | Improving | 3 | 19.6 | 66.8 | 13.6 |
General Business Activity | 8.3 | 13.1 | –4.8 | Improving | 3 | 21.5 | 65.3 | 13.2 |
Indicator | Mar Index | Feb Index | Change | Indicator Direction* | Trend** (Months) | % Reporting Increase | % Reporting No Change | % Reporting Decrease |
Outlook Uncertainty† | 3.4 | 4.1 | –0.7 | Increasing | 10 | 21.0 | 61.3 | 17.6 |
Business Indicators Relating to Facilities and Products in Texas Future (six months ahead) | ||||||||
Indicator | Mar Index | Feb Index | Change | Indicator Direction | Trend* (Months) | % Reporting Increase | % Reporting No Change | % Reporting Decrease |
Production | 51.3 | 44.3 | +7.0 | Increasing | 121 | 57.6 | 36.1 | 6.3 |
Capacity Utilization | 48.2 | 40.1 | +8.1 | Increasing | 121 | 53.4 | 41.4 | 5.2 |
New Orders | 43.5 | 44.9 | –1.4 | Increasing | 121 | 50.2 | 43.1 | 6.7 |
Growth Rate of Orders | 32.6 | 30.8 | +1.8 | Increasing | 121 | 41.0 | 50.6 | 8.4 |
Unfilled Orders | 10.7 | 10.8 | –0.1 | Increasing | 42 | 19.2 | 72.3 | 8.5 |
Shipments | 45.4 | 44.7 | +0.7 | Increasing | 121 | 53.0 | 39.4 | 7.6 |
Delivery Time | 9.6 | 8.7 | +0.9 | Increasing | 28 | 19.0 | 71.6 | 9.4 |
Finished Goods Inventories | 9.1 | 5.4 | +3.7 | Increasing | 17 | 19.1 | 70.9 | 10.0 |
Prices Paid for Raw Materials | 28.2 | 23.7 | +4.5 | Increasing | 120 | 35.5 | 57.3 | 7.3 |
Prices Received for Finished Goods | 20.0 | 25.9 | –5.9 | Increasing | 38 | 31.8 | 56.4 | 11.8 |
Wages and Benefits | 54.4 | 47.0 | +7.4 | Increasing | 178 | 54.9 | 44.6 | 0.5 |
Employment | 37.9 | 33.2 | +4.7 | Increasing | 76 | 43.9 | 50.1 | 6.0 |
Hours Worked | 14.4 | 11.4 | +3.0 | Increasing | 34 | 24.4 | 65.6 | 10.0 |
Capital Expenditures | 36.2 | 24.0 | +12.2 | Increasing | 112 | 39.8 | 56.6 | 3.6 |
General Business Conditions Future (six months ahead) | ||||||||
Indicator | Mar Index | Feb Index | Change | Indicator Direction* | Trend** (Months) | % Reporting Increase | % Reporting No Change | % Reporting Worsened |
Company Outlook | 17.5 | 26.7 | –9.2 | Improving | 38 | 30.8 | 55.9 | 13.3 |
General Business Activity | 19.7 | 17.7 | +2.0 | Improving | 34 | 32.8 | 54.1 | 13.1 |
*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.
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