Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey
Results Table
| Business Indicators Relating to Facilities and Products in Texas Current (versus previous month) | ||||||||
| Indicator | Mar Index | Feb Index | Change | Series Average | Trend* | % Reporting Increase | % Reporting No Change | % Reporting Decrease |
Production | 13.2 | 14.5 | –1.3 | 10.9 | 22(+) | 26.4 | 60.4 | 13.2 |
Capacity Utilization | 15.1 | 11.5 | +3.6 | 8.7 | 22(+) | 26.0 | 63.1 | 10.9 |
New Orders | 10.5 | 23.1 | –12.6 | 7.0 | 22(+) | 27.4 | 55.7 | 16.9 |
Growth Rate of Orders | 13.7 | 12.6 | +1.1 | 0.8 | 21(+) | 26.0 | 61.7 | 12.3 |
Unfilled Orders | 12.4 | 7.7 | +4.7 | –1.5 | 21(+) | 24.7 | 63.0 | 12.3 |
Shipments | 7.0 | 23.5 | –16.5 | 9.7 | 22(+) | 23.1 | 60.8 | 16.1 |
Delivery Time | 23.2 | 21.4 | +1.8 | 1.2 | 21(+) | 32.2 | 58.8 | 9.0 |
Finished Goods Inventories | 2.3 | –5.2 | +7.5 | –3.4 | 1(+) | 18.0 | 66.3 | 15.7 |
Prices Paid for Raw Materials | 74.0 | 73.4 | +0.6 | 27.5 | 23(+) | 77.7 | 18.6 | 3.7 |
Prices Received for Finished Goods | 47.8 | 44.6 | +3.2 | 8.3 | 20(+) | 49.0 | 49.8 | 1.2 |
Wages and Benefits | 55.2 | 44.0 | +11.2 | 19.9 | 23(+) | 55.2 | 44.8 | 0.0 |
Employment | 25.5 | 18.4 | +7.1 | 7.5 | 21(+) | 32.0 | 61.5 | 6.5 |
Hours Worked | 15.4 | 19.0 | –3.6 | 3.7 | 21(+) | 23.5 | 68.4 | 8.1 |
Capital Expenditures | 19.5 | 16.1 | +3.4 | 6.8 | 20(+) | 24.7 | 70.1 | 5.2 |
| General Business Conditions Current (versus previous month) | ||||||||
| Indicator | Mar Index | Feb Index | Change | Series Average | Trend** | % Reporting Improved | % Reporting No Change | % Reporting Worsened |
Company Outlook | –0.7 | 6.4 | –7.1 | 6.8 | 1(–) | 15.8 | 67.7 | 16.5 |
General Business Activity | 8.7 | 14.0 | –5.3 | 3.1 | 20(+) | 17.5 | 73.7 | 8.8 |
| Indicator | Mar Index | Feb Index | Change | Series Average | Trend* | % Reporting Increase | % Reporting No Change | % Reporting Decrease |
Outlook Uncertainty† | 20.5 | 17.0 | +3.5 | 14.4 | 11(+) | 34.1 | 52.3 | 13.6 |
| Business Indicators Relating to Facilities and Products in Texas Future (six months ahead) | ||||||||
| Indicator | Mar Index | Feb Index | Change | Series Average | Trend* | % Reporting Increase | % Reporting No Change | % Reporting Decrease |
Production | 40.1 | 42.1 | –2.0 | 38.7 | 23(+) | 46.7 | 46.7 | 6.6 |
Capacity Utilization | 35.6 | 41.8 | –6.2 | 35.5 | 23(+) | 44.2 | 47.1 | 8.6 |
New Orders | 39.6 | 39.1 | +0.5 | 36.3 | 23(+) | 44.3 | 51.0 | 4.7 |
Growth Rate of Orders | 30.1 | 27.1 | +3.0 | 27.0 | 23(+) | 36.1 | 57.9 | 6.0 |
Unfilled Orders | 4.2 | –0.1 | +4.3 | 3.8 | 1(+) | 17.0 | 70.2 | 12.8 |
Shipments | 38.2 | 39.2 | –1.0 | 37.1 | 23(+) | 45.7 | 46.8 | 7.5 |
Delivery Time | 8.5 | 3.6 | +4.9 | –1.1 | 7(+) | 23.7 | 61.2 | 15.2 |
Finished Goods Inventories | 7.5 | 12.7 | –5.2 | 0.5 | 17(+) | 19.8 | 67.9 | 12.3 |
Prices Paid for Raw Materials | 58.0 | 51.1 | +6.9 | 34.7 | 24(+) | 60.5 | 37.0 | 2.5 |
Prices Received for Finished Goods | 59.2 | 45.4 | +13.8 | 20.9 | 23(+) | 61.7 | 35.8 | 2.5 |
Wages and Benefits | 64.8 | 74.3 | –9.5 | 38.9 | 23(+) | 64.8 | 35.2 | 0.0 |
Employment | 38.0 | 45.2 | –7.2 | 23.3 | 22(+) | 42.1 | 53.8 | 4.1 |
Hours Worked | 16.1 | 10.4 | +5.7 | 9.5 | 23(+) | 22.7 | 70.7 | 6.6 |
Capital Expenditures | 35.8 | 29.9 | +5.9 | 20.1 | 22(+) | 40.7 | 54.4 | 4.9 |
| General Business Conditions Future (six months ahead) | ||||||||
| Indicator | Mar Index | Feb Index | Change | Series Average | Trend** | % Reporting Increase | % Reporting No Change | % Reporting Worsened |
Company Outlook | 10.4 | 18.1 | –7.7 | 20.6 | 22(+) | 27.2 | 56.0 | 16.8 |
General Business Activity | 8.2 | 20.6 | –12.4 | 14.8 | 22(+) | 22.8 | 62.6 | 14.6 |
*Shown is the number of consecutive months of expansion or contraction in the underlying indicator. Expansion is indicated by a positive index reading and denoted by a (+) in the table. Contraction is indicated by a negative index reading and denoted by a (–) in the table.
**Shown is the number of consecutive months of improvement or worsening in the underlying indicator. Improvement is indicated by a positive index reading and denoted by a (+) in the table. Worsening is indicated by a negative index reading and denoted by a (–) in the table.
†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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