Surveys

Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey

April 29, 2019

Results Table

Business Indicators Relating to Facilities and Products in Texas Current (versus previous month)
Indicator	Apr Index	Mar Index	Change	Indicator Direction*	Trend** (Months)	% Reporting Increase	% Reporting No Change	% Reporting Decrease
Production	12.4	10.5	+1.9	Increasing	34	29.9	52.6	17.5
Capacity Utilization	15.6	9.4	+6.2	Increasing	34	27.8	59.9	12.2
New Orders	9.8	2.2	+7.6	Increasing	30	30.9	48.0	21.1
Growth Rate of Orders	5.2	–2.0	+7.2	Increasing	1	23.5	58.2	18.3
Unfilled Orders	–0.4	–0.4	0.0	Decreasing	5	14.3	71.1	14.7
Shipments	6.3	5.8	+0.5	Increasing	29	27.2	52.0	20.9
Delivery Time	1.6	3.9	–2.3	Increasing	2	13.1	75.4	11.5
Finished Goods Inventories	–5.7	1.7	–7.4	Decreasing	1	13.2	67.9	18.9
Prices Paid for Raw Materials	7.9	18.9	–11.0	Increasing	37	18.4	71.2	10.5
Prices Received for Finished Goods	6.0	6.5	–0.5	Increasing	33	12.7	80.6	6.7
Wages and Benefits	28.2	30.0	–1.8	Increasing	117	31.9	64.4	3.7
Employment	4.6	12.2	–7.6	Increasing	28	19.2	66.2	14.6
Hours Worked	8.1	6.3	+1.8	Increasing	30	20.0	68.1	11.9
Capital Expenditures	18.9	12.2	+6.7	Increasing	32	25.4	68.1	6.5

General Business Conditions Current (versus previous month)
Indicator	Apr Index	Mar Index	Change	Indicator Direction*	Trend** (Months)	% Reporting Improved	% Reporting No Change	% Reporting Worsened
Company Outlook	6.3	4.2	+2.1	Improving	4	21.9	62.5	15.6
General Business Activity	2.0	6.9	–4.9	Improving	3	21.0	60.0	19.0


Indicator	Apr Index	Mar Index	Change	Indicator Direction*	Trend** (Months)	% Reporting Increase	% Reporting No Change	% Reporting Decrease
Outlook Uncertainty†	6.8	3.4	+3.4	Increasing	11	22.5	61.8	15.7

Business Indicators Relating to Facilities and Products in Texas Future (six months ahead)
Indicator	Apr Index	Mar Index	Change	Indicator Direction	Trend* (Months)	% Reporting Increase	% Reporting No Change	% Reporting Decrease
Production	41.3	51.5	–10.2	Increasing	122	49.1	43.1	7.8
Capacity Utilization	40.6	48.2	–7.6	Increasing	122	47.2	46.2	6.6
New Orders	35.9	42.7	–6.8	Increasing	122	43.2	49.4	7.3
Growth Rate of Orders	27.5	32.4	–4.9	Increasing	122	33.9	59.7	6.4
Unfilled Orders	10.0	10.4	–0.4	Increasing	43	19.8	70.4	9.8
Shipments	35.5	44.2	–8.7	Increasing	122	43.6	48.3	8.1
Delivery Time	1.8	10.2	–8.4	Increasing	29	11.9	78.0	10.1
Finished Goods Inventories	–4.1	9.1	–13.2	Decreasing	1	14.1	67.7	18.2
Prices Paid for Raw Materials	14.0	28.2	–14.2	Increasing	121	25.0	64.0	11.0
Prices Received for Finished Goods	8.0	20.0	–12.0	Increasing	39	24.0	60.0	16.0
Wages and Benefits	38.8	54.3	–15.5	Increasing	179	41.3	56.1	2.5
Employment	33.4	37.5	–4.1	Increasing	77	39.5	54.4	6.1
Hours Worked	9.0	14.6	–5.6	Increasing	35	16.7	75.6	7.7
Capital Expenditures	26.2	36.0	–9.8	Increasing	113	30.9	64.3	4.7

General Business Conditions Future (six months ahead)
Indicator	Apr Index	Mar Index	Change	Indicator Direction*	Trend** (Months)	% Reporting Increase	% Reporting No Change	% Reporting Worsened
Company Outlook	20.9	18.4	+2.5	Improving	39	30.5	59.9	9.6
General Business Activity	18.4	18.4	0.0	Improving	35	30.1	58.3	11.7

*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.