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Texas Economy

Texas Service Sector Activity Flattens Out

Texas Service Sector Outlook Survey

December 1, 2020

Texas Service Sector Activity Flattens Out

What’s New This Month

For this month’s survey, Texas business executives were asked supplemental questions on the impact of COVID-19. Results for these questions from the Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey, Texas Service Sector Outlook Survey and Texas Retail Outlook Survey have been released together. Read the special questions results.

Activity in the Texas service sector remained mostly flat in November, according to business executives responding to the Texas Service Sector Outlook Survey. The revenue index, a key measure of state service sector conditions, fell from 7.1 in October to -0.7 in November, indicating little net change in activity compared with last month.

Labor market indicators signaled a plateauing of employment and slower growth in hours worked. The employment index was mostly unchanged at 0.9, while the part-time employment index rose slightly to -0.4. Meanwhile, the hours worked index dipped from 5.5 to 2.6.

Perceptions of broader business conditions point to a reversal of the optimism seen in previous months. The general business activity index plunged nearly 16 points to -2.6, its first negative reading since July. The company outlook index declined from 7.8 to -0.8, with nearly 20 percent of respondents noting that their outlook worsened compared with last month. The outlook uncertainty index surged from 5.8 to 17.4.

Price pressures were mixed in November, while wage pressures increased. The wages and benefits index rose from 8.6 to 11.2—its highest value since February. The selling prices index was largely unchanged at 3.3, while the input prices index inched up from 18.4 to 20.7.

Respondents’ expectations regarding future business activity were slightly less optimistic compared with last month. The future general business activity index dipped four points to 16.1, while the future revenue index fell about two points to 34.4. Other indexes of future service sector activity such as employment remained solidly positive, suggesting expectations of increased activity in early 2021.

Texas Retail Outlook Survey

December 1, 2020

Texas Retail Sales Decline

Retail sales activity fell in November after posting two consecutive months of robust growth, according to business executives responding to the Texas Retail Outlook Survey. The sales index, a key measure of state retail activity, fell from 5.2 to -6.5, with one-third of respondents noting declining sales compared with October. Inventories continued to increase, with the inventories index ticking up from 1.9 to 3.0.

Retail labor market indicators showed continued weakness in November, with continuing declines in employment and shortening of average workweek length. The employment index remained in negative territory, roughly unchanged at -2.4, and the part-time index added two points but remained contractionary at -2.0. The hours worked index increased but was also negative, rising from -4.8 to -2.1.

Retailers’ perceptions of broader business conditions turned negative in November. The general business activity index slumped nearly 19 points to -4.2, while the company outlook index fell nearly 15 points to -0.1. The outlook uncertainty index surged from -2.0 to 18.4, its highest reading since April.

Retail wage pressures eased, while price pressures were mixed compared with last month. The wages and benefits index declined from 11.4 to 6.6, while the selling prices index shed over five points to 13.9. The input prices index moved up from 18.7 to 20.3, with nearly 30 percent of respondents reporting rising prices.

Despite current weakness, retailers’ perceptions of future activity continued to reflect optimism. The future general business activity index slipped from 21.4 in October to 19.0 in November, while the future sales index increased nearly three points to 29.0. Other indexes of future retail activity such as employment pushed further into positive territory, pointing to continued expectations of growth in 2021.

The Texas Retail Outlook Survey is a component of the Texas Service Sector Outlook Survey that uses information only from respondents in the retail and wholesale sectors.

Next release: December 29, 2020

Data were collected November 16–24, and 240 Texas service sector and 51 retail sector business executives responded to the survey. The Dallas Fed conducts the Texas Service Sector Outlook Survey monthly to obtain a timely assessment of the state’s service sector activity. Firms are asked whether revenue, employment, prices, general business activity and other indicators increased, decreased or remained unchanged over the previous month.

Survey responses are used to calculate an index for each indicator. Each index is calculated by subtracting the percentage of respondents reporting a decrease from the percentage reporting an increase. When the share of firms reporting an increase exceeds the share reporting a decrease, the index will be greater than zero, suggesting the indicator has increased over the prior month. If the share of firms reporting a decrease exceeds the share reporting an increase, the index will be below zero, suggesting the indicator has decreased over the prior month. An index will be zero when the number of firms reporting an increase is equal to the number of firms reporting a decrease. Data have been seasonally adjusted as necessary.

Texas Service Sector Outlook Survey

December 1, 2020

Historical data are available from January 2007 to the most current release month.

Business Indicators Relating to Facilities and Products in Texas
Current (versus previous month)
IndicatorNov IndexOct IndexChangeSeries
Average
Trend*% Reporting Increase% Reporting
No Change
% Reporting Decrease

Revenue

–0.7

7.1

–7.8

10.7

1(–)

27.0

45.3

27.7

Employment

0.9

0.6

+0.3

5.9

3(+)

13.5

73.9

12.6

Part–Time Employment

–0.4

–1.6

+1.2

1.2

2(–)

6.5

86.6

6.9

Hours Worked

2.6

5.5

–2.9

2.2

3(+)

10.2

82.2

7.6

Wages and Benefits

11.2

8.6

+2.6

13.8

6(+)

16.4

78.4

5.2

Input Prices

20.7

18.4

+2.3

24.8

7(+)

26.5

67.7

5.8

Selling Prices

3.3

4.1

–0.8

4.9

4(+)

13.9

75.5

10.6

Capital Expenditures

2.4

2.3

+0.1

9.6

3(+)

14.6

73.2

12.2

General Business Conditions
Current (versus previous month)
IndicatorNov IndexOct IndexChangeSeries
Average
Trend**% Reporting Improved% Reporting
No Change
% Reporting Worsened

Company Outlook

–0.8

7.8

–8.6

4.8

1(–)

17.6

64.0

18.4

General Business Activity

–2.6

13.2

–15.8

2.6

1(–)

19.6

58.2

22.2

IndicatorNov IndexOct IndexChangeSeries
Average
Trend*% Reporting Increase% Reporting
No Change
% Reporting Decrease

Outlook Uncertainty†

17.4

5.8

+11.6

13.1

2(+)

29.8

57.8

12.4

Business Indicators Relating to Facilities and Products in Texas
Future (six months ahead)
IndicatorNov IndexOct IndexChangeSeries
Average
Trend*% Reporting Increase% Reporting
No Change
% Reporting Decrease

Revenue

34.4

36.3

–1.9

36.6

7(+)

51.0

32.4

16.6

Employment

22.8

19.4

+3.4

21.5

7(+)

33.7

55.4

10.9

Part–Time Employment

6.8

5.3

+1.5

6.3

4(+)

14.8

77.2

8.0

Hours Worked

6.9

9.1

–2.2

5.4

7(+)

14.6

77.7

7.7

Wages and Benefits

29.7

28.3

+1.4

35.5

7(+)

35.4

58.9

5.7

Input Prices

33.9

32.1

+1.8

43.3

167(+)

40.1

53.7

6.2

Selling Prices

20.4

19.1

+1.3

22.6

7(+)

29.7

61.0

9.3

Capital Expenditures

14.4

13.3

+1.1

22.9

6(+)

26.6

61.2

12.2

General Business Conditions
Future (six months ahead)
IndicatorNov IndexOct IndexChangeSeries
Average
Trend**% Reporting Improved% Reporting
No Change
% Reporting Worsened

Company Outlook

16.2

17.6

–1.4

15.9

4(+)

32.2

51.8

16.0

General Business Activity

16.1

20.1

–4.0

12.7

4(+)

34.7

46.6

18.6

Texas Retail Outlook Survey

December 1, 2020

Historical data are available from January 2007 to the most current release month.

Business Indicators Relating to Facilities and Products in Texas
Retail (versus previous month)
IndicatorNov IndexOct IndexChangeSeries
Average
Trend*% Reporting Increase% Reporting
No Change
% Reporting Decrease
Retail Activity in Texas

Sales

–6.5

5.2

–11.7

5.6

1(–)

26.8

39.9

33.3

Employment

–2.4

–2.1

–0.3

1.7

2(–)

9.0

79.6

11.4

Part–Time Employment

–2.0

–4.0

+2.0

–2.2

2(–)

6.0

86.0

8.0

Hours Worked

–2.1

–4.8

+2.7

–2.1

2(–)

9.7

78.5

11.8

Wages and Benefits

6.6

11.4

–4.8

9.1

4(+)

15.7

75.2

9.1

Input Prices

20.3

18.7

+1.6

18.7

7(+)

29.2

61.9

8.9

Selling Prices

13.9

19.0

–5.1

10.0

6(+)

31.1

51.7

17.2

Capital Expenditures

4.0

–2.2

+6.2

7.4

1(+)

10.1

83.8

6.1

Inventories

3.0

1.9

+1.1

2.4

2(+)

32.2

38.5

29.2

Companywide Retail Activity

Companywide Sales

–9.6

4.9

–14.5

6.9

1(–)

25.0

40.4

34.6

Companywide Internet Sales

–5.4

3.4

–8.8

6.1

1(–)

13.9

66.8

19.3

General Business Conditions, Retail
Current (versus previous month)
IndicatorNov IndexOct IndexChangeSeries
Average
Trend**% Reporting Improved% Reporting
No Change
% Reporting Worsened

Company Outlook

–0.1

14.8

–14.9

3.3

1(–)

18.8

62.3

18.9

General Business Activity

–4.2

14.6

–18.8

–1.0

1(–)

22.1

51.6

26.3

Outlook Uncertainty
Current (versus previous month)
IndicatorNov IndexOct IndexChangeSeries
Average
Trend*% Reporting Increase% Reporting
No Change
% Reporting Decrease

Outlook Uncertainty†

18.4

–2.0

+20.4

10.4

1(+)

28.6

61.2

10.2

Business Indicators Relating to Facilities and Products in Texas, Retail
Future (six months ahead)
IndicatorNov IndexOct IndexChangeSeries
Average
Trend*% Reporting Increase% Reporting
No Change
% Reporting Decrease
Retail Activity in Texas

Sales

29.0

26.1

+2.9

31.9

7(+)

44.5

40.0

15.5

Employment

16.9

11.9

+5.0

11.8

7(+)

26.9

63.1

10.0

Part–Time Employment

5.9

7.6

–1.7

0.6

3(+)

14.9

76.1

9.0

Hours Worked

2.4

11.1

–8.7

2.7

7(+)

12.5

77.4

10.1

Wages and Benefits

26.7

27.6

–0.9

26.8

7(+)

34.5

57.7

7.8

Input Prices

42.9

28.0

+14.9

32.4

7(+)

49.0

44.9

6.1

Selling Prices

38.8

26.0

+12.8

28.6

7(+)

49.0

40.8

10.2

Capital Expenditures

14.3

14.0

+0.3

16.8

6(+)

20.4

73.5

6.1

Inventories

21.9

16.8

+5.1

8.3

7(+)

39.7

42.6

17.8

Companywide Retail Activity

Companywide Sales

23.3

22.6

+0.7

30.3

7(+)

38.0

47.3

14.7

Companywide Internet Sales

18.4

9.8

+8.6

21.7

8(+)

31.6

55.3

13.2

General Business Conditions, Retail
Future (six months ahead)
IndicatorNov IndexOct IndexChangeSeries
Average
Trend**% Reporting Improved% Reporting
No Change
% Reporting Worsened

Company Outlook

17.5

17.7

–0.2

16.7

7(+)

33.9

49.7

16.4

General Business Activity

19.0

21.4

–2.4

12.5

4(+)

39.0

41.0

20.0

*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.

Texas Service Sector Outlook Survey

December 1, 2020

Downloadable chart

Texas Retail Outlook Survey

December 1, 2020

Downloadable chart

Texas Service Sector Outlook Survey

December 1, 2020

Comments from Survey Respondents

These comments are from respondents’ completed surveys and have been edited for publication.

Utilities

  • We feel like COVID-19 is stifling business activity.

Pipeline Transportation

  • With the announcement of two successful clinical trials for vaccines, business confidence seems to be increasing even though COVID-19 cases are still increasing.

Support Activities for Transportation

  • There is plenty of business on the market. The current issue is with bringing new staff up to speed to be able to increase capacity and revenue.

Warehousing and Storage

  • Despite a strong recovery in crude exports in the third quarter, we just finished our budget for 2021 and expect a medium retracement in oil export volumes in 2021, as the decreased Permian rig count of the past six months starts to impact production levels as existing wells taper off. We're budgeting for a 14 percent reduction in crude export volumes for 2021 versus 2020. We will continue our aggressive capital and maintenance program for the time being, however, as we believe the long-term prospects for energy on the U.S. Gulf Coast remain strong.

Publishing Industries (Except Internet)

  • We are getting closer to the post-vaccine era.

Credit Intermediation and Related Activities

  • The election’s temporary results have frustrated many and have created concern about the economic forecast. The big issue is the direction of the pandemic and potential barriers created by the resurgence. The increase in deposits is widespread among banking institutions, and locally we have seen a 16 percent increase over this time last year. Cost of funds is at historical lows but so are profit margins. In this interest rate environment, as in the Great Depression, the only alternative is volume, and that results in a very competitive market scenario for loans.
  • Past and potential future COVID-19 restrictions imposed by government, especially those related to retail, but really to all types of commercial property, have reduced the willingness of long-term real estate lenders to consider new financing for this type of property. Lodging properties are virtually impossible to refinance at this time. The possibility of effective vaccines will hopefully improve this situation by the second half of 2021.
  • We expect more regulation with the incoming president of our company and for many business sectors in our region.

Securities, Commodity Contracts, and Other Financial Investments and Related Activities

  • There are too many negatives now. Oil and gas machinery business is gone, except for parts. The long-term outlook now is not good.
  • The COVID-19 resurgence puts a question mark around things in the near term, with vaccine news providing improved confidence in the longer term. Election results with a split government is a positive versus the “blue wave.”
  • There is concern about COVID-19 and the effects on health, safety and consumer confidence.
  • Farm income will be down. Retail sales and motel taxes are flat compared with 12 months ago.

Insurance Carriers and Related Activities

  • Texas voted very "red," but I think the fact that the election is over is a relief. Now, we just need some realization that COVID-19 is still here until we get a vaccine (negatively impacting business activities and travel). It didn't go away with warm weather, and it didn't miraculously go away after the election.
  • Due to the Thanksgiving holidays, November revenue is generally lower than October. Business activity is level. With the recent announcements of an effective COVID-19 vaccine, we anticipate a strong uptick in business activity in the first half of 2021.

Real Estate

  • We are seeing optimism with the pending approval of the vaccines, but the continued mandated shutdowns will create many more problems for tenants just as they were beginning to see some light at the end of the tunnel. This mandated closing and the picking of winners and losers by calling some “essential businesses” is killing our small business tenants and pushing business to the big retailers. But, I don’t see anything happening unless the leadership in Congress changes. We will just have two more years of fighting and bickering instead of any real help.
  • The stock market is reflecting optimism across industries that life will begin to return to normal in 2021.
  • The surge of the coronavirus has made buyers slow down looking at homes, but the news of vaccines has given the public and our employees a better outlook.

Rental and Leasing Services

  • The new anti-business environment we're are about to move into—with higher taxes and more intrusive unproductive regulation—cannot promote growing profitable business. The attack on the oil industry in Texas is a very large net negative to our industry and our company in particular. We are very disappointed in the integrity and results of this election.
  • With COVID-19 numbers ramping up and running into our typical slowdown in December and January, I'm not sure where we will be in six months. As a company based in the live events industry, we have had our revenues and ability to do business decimated. However, we have found solutions, created new events and have found ways to break even in the last two months. This is huge for a company and an industry that was forced to stop working in March 2020.

Professional, Scientific and Technical Services

  • Introduction of a vaccine has boosted market confidence for us, and we see demand increasing and are optimistic for first-quarter client demand.
  • TxDOT's [Texas Department of Transportation] funding budget was cut from approximately $1.07 billion to $951 billion due to the decrease in Prop 1 funding from natural gas production, also known as severance taxes. TxDOT is also shifting budgeted dollars away from schematic work for new projects to higher construction dollars. This will result in a decrease in revenues for some engineering companies who are heavy into the development of new transportation projects. The six-month outlook provided assumes that Biden is named president. If Trump serves another four years, these answers would change.
  • Uncertainty has certainly increased due to widespread COVID-19 contagions and more lockdowns all around the country.
  • We feel at this stage of the game that we are navigating this market with blindfolds on. The uncertainty of the pandemic and the election have caused a softening of the commercial real estate market, and the longer this goes on, the worse it will be for our economy. The residential market has benefited from this due to historically low interest rates, but this, too, will slow down if the pandemic continues. Even if we are successful with a vaccine, it will be at least a year from now before things are back to normal, and then we will have to deal with state of the economy. No one knows just how bad that will be, but we do know that taxes are going up, and that will definitely slow down the real estate market. We remain confident that we will rise above this; we just don't know how long it will take.
  • Our business remains steady without any severe adverse impacts of the COVID-19 crisis. While long term we are still confident, over the next three to four months, we are concerned about the impact of the virus surge on our clients' businesses. We hope the government will be prepared to provide some support if the situation forces further contractions in activity. We are also concerned about the possible civil unrest as a result of the election results.
  • Low interest rates are affecting the pricing of insurance products and margins.
  • We are hopeful that in the next six months our business does increase and we get to hire one full-time and one part-time employee to help us grow. The uncertainty has increased as talks of shutting down again have increased.
  • As an IT company, we are having to pivot our business to support over 80 percent of remote users.
  • Optimism for calendar year 2021 first-quarter federal stimulus and increased government spending has increased our outlook.
  • Development and construction activity appear to be average to above average. We are heavily into development of [our] e-commerce space and to a lesser degree, residential subdivision development, both of which are relatively stable. Shopping center and office development are nonexistent.

Administrative and Support Services

  • We have experienced a slight uptick in demand from our clients for help with their hiring needs starting in mid-to-late October. There is increased demand for contract hires compared to pre-COVID-19, however, we have also experienced increased demand for direct hires this month. The clients hiring are in health care, manufacturing and financial services and are all mid-market companies. Overall, the roles we are hiring for are staff to mid-level and not senior manager or executive roles (lower salary roles than pre-COVID-19).
  • New activity is still not increasing. Our uptick was the result of one client, not a general increase over several/many clients.
  • There is political uncertainty in the financial sector.
  • We need additional PPP [Paycheck Protection Program] funds to continue at the reduced revenue we've experienced with the COVID-19 client company shutdowns. We have exhausted our PPP funds paying people and 50 percent of our EIDL [Economic Injury Disaster Loans] loan funds to pay employees, rent, etc. Since September, we have had an uptick in demand for temporary employees, but this will slow as the year comes to an end. Hopefully, the new year will bring another increase in demand. The PPP was originally for eight weeks of payroll and it's five months since our loan, and COVID-19 has created a 50 percent reduction in revenue to date. Congress and the Treasury need to act now.
  • The private aircraft sector has remained stable October to November. We do have an increase in RFQs [requests for quotation] for future work starting to close in January. All other sectors that we serve are remaining flat sales wise. We did have an uptick in RFQs for industrial-machine shop components in late-to-early November. These quotes have not been captured as of yet. We have noticed a slowdown in business activity since the election, which is abnormal for our line of services; usually, the opposite is true after an election. We believe the sooner the current administration transitions out and the Biden administration enters, the faster the manufacturing sector will increase in production. It’s my impression that it is our future government stability that has dampened this service sector. COVID-19 concerns do not seem to be affecting the outlook of other owners, at least in my area at this time. People are wanting to work through the pandemic as long as they believe our government is "on top" of things.
  • COVID-19 has returned, and it is causing disruptions again, just when we thought it was behind us.
  • Competition is allowing a nonemployee, subcontractor model that we can't compete with. We are liable to lose some contracts.
  • Are historically low interest rates and the effects of Fed [federal government] stimulus sustainable as economic drivers?
  • The election outcome has removed uncertainty around likely future tax and economic policies, which is good for companies looking to plan transactions and expansions.

Educational Services

  • I live in the Killeen metro area, and the economic activity is quite robust. Folks are out and about wearing protective gear and spending.
  • We are highly dependent on the state of Texas budget. The uncertainty about how that will unfold when the Legislature meets in January is causing us to conserve resources now in anticipation of a probable, but unknown size cut in our state budget allocation.
  • We changed training delivery from live to virtual mode due to the pandemic. We expect to operate virtually from this point forward but may execute live trainings as well if customers request them and it is safe to do so. Price of a one-hour virtual [training] is about 13 percent the price of a live training. So we will depend on volume to achieve the same revenue level as with live trainings.

Ambulatory Health Care Services

  • With the dramatic increase in COVID-19 cases in El Paso and the corresponding need for emergency food, it is imperative that Congress authorize additional stimulus funding. Without additional support, [we] will not be able to feed the 9,000 to 10,000 families coming to our door each day in need of emergency food. For the past two weeks, the number of families seeking food has increased 25 percent, but the supply of food has not. Things are dire in El Paso and we need help!
  • As an outpatient facility, [we are] near normal volumes as patients who have previously delayed imaging are returning. We are beginning to see COVID-19 numbers ramp up slightly in Houston; it’s better than the remainder of the state, but worrisome.
  • COVID-19 is having a significant impact on revenue slowing down by 25 percent. Cost of operations continue at a prepandemic level due to staffing being the majority of the cost for health care providers. To overcome the COVID-19 issue, another round of small business stimulus will be critical for continuation of the small businesses with revenue of less than $10 million. In addition to the work-related challenging environment, employees are also having to deal with education challenges in the K-12 environment stretching financial, emotional and resources to the max. Another round of stimulus for small businesses is critical at this point.
  • For better or worse, this administration is done; coronapocalypse and trauma and lack of fun; this week return of Yellen; no one doing any sellin’; and vaccine will bring us safety and calm in ’21.

Hospitals

  • Record levels of COVID-19 patients are increasing costs and crowding out elective work.

Social Assistance

  • [We have] felt the effects of increased COVID-19 cases both in terms of a decrease in customer traffic and an increase in the number of employee-related cases, which has directly impacted operations and sales.

Museums, Historical Sites and Similar Institutions

  • Increasing COVID-19 [cases] are worrying right now. Attendance was stronger in September and October than we expected but appears to have peaked and currently is less despite very nice weather.

Amusement, Gambling and Recreation Industries

  • As a seasonal business, the future restrictions look like they will increase—more government regulations.
  • Even with a vaccine, it is going to take a very long time for business to return to normal.

Accommodation

  • Hotel bookings have now declined for the third straight week, indicating that the various lockdowns and surging of the virus are starting to impact travel and hotel reservations.

Food Services and Drinking Places

  • Spikes in cases are not helping. If Biden wins, [there will be] impacts on oil and gas and the West Texas economy.
  • I am afraid a Biden administration will wreck the economy by shutting everything down.
  • Turkey sales for Thanksgiving are way off due to COVID-19. We are also short on help due to more infections.
  • [We are concerned about a] possible shutdown when Biden takes over.

Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations

  • There is concern about COVID-19-related illness among the staff. We have reduced our volunteer assistance to help offset the outside possibility of bringing in someone infected with COVID-19.
  • The inability for top government leadership to take seriously COVID-19-related problems has stretched reduced activity into Q4 and Q1 of 2021. Until employees consider working and transportation environments safe, all activity will have a temporary feel to it. Until COVID-19 is demonstrability controlled (or just addressed from a national coordination perspective), economic weakness will continue.

Merchant Wholesalers, Durable Goods

  • There is too much uncertainty around the election and eventual control of the Senate.

Merchant Wholesalers, Nondurable Goods

  • We've picked up a new client in Costa Rica that's opened two new restaurants in the last 30 days. They expect sales to be strong (in spite of COVID-19), and so far, the numbers agree. With the announcement of a vaccine, I would expect people's fears to lessen, and people will socialize more in the next six months (eating out).

Motor Vehicle and Parts Dealers

  • More lockdowns and mandatory business closures would completely change my outlook.
  • New-vehicle inventory is low, and we don't expect significant improvement until March. We anticipate a soft first quarter with gradual improvement throughout the remainder of the new year. New products will be coming throughout 2021. November has shown a significant decline in business from October. COVID-19 is a major concern and at the top of mind, impacting traffic. Election results? Who maintains control of the Senate? There are major concerns impacting policy if the Republican party doesn't [maintain] control.
  • Continued COVID-19 infections and the uncertainty of the election outcome may be affecting business. As our new-vehicle inventories rise, we have seen a softening in used-vehicle values, thus reducing our retail margins and requiring us to write down inventories.

General Merchandise Stores

  • We are concerned about election chaos and increases in COVID-19 cases and lockdown concerns.

Historical Data

Historical data can be downloaded dating back to January 2007.

Indexes

Download indexes for all indicators. For the definitions of all variables, see Data Definitions.

Texas Service Sector Outlook Survey
Texas Retail Outlook Survey
Unadjusted Unadjusted
Seasonally adjusted Seasonally adjusted

All Data

Download indexes and components of the indexes (percentage of respondents reporting increase, decrease, or no change). For the definitions of all variables, see Data Definitions.

Texas Service Sector Outlook Survey
Texas Retail Outlook Survey
Unadjusted Unadjusted
Seasonally adjusted Seasonally adjusted

Questions regarding the Texas Service Sector Outlook Survey can be addressed to Christopher Slijk at christopher.slijk@dal.frb.org.

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