Category: Profitability

Each month the Philadelphia Fed releases the Business Outlook Survey, which contains a variety of information concerning business conditions.

As seen on the site:

The Business Outlook Survey is a monthly survey of manufacturers in the Third Federal Reserve District. Participants indicate the direction of change in overall business activity and in the various measures of activity at their plants: employment, working hours, new and unfilled orders, shipments, inventories, delivery times, prices paid, and prices received. The survey has been conducted each month since May 1968.

One component of this survey are diffusion indices for both “Prices Paid” and “Prices Received.” (for those unaware, this survey provides the following definition:  ”Diffusion indexes represent the percentage indicating an increase minus the percentage indicating a decrease.”)

Doug Short provides a monthly blog post concerning the Philadelphia Fed’s Business Outlook Survey.  For reference purposes, here is a chart he has created that shows, from a long-term perspective, the “Prices Paid” and “Prices Received” diffusion indices (shown by the dots) and their 12-month moving averages (shown by the solid lines) :

(click on chart to enlarge image)

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Each month the Philadelphia Fed releases the Business Outlook Survey, which contains a variety of information concerning business conditions.

As seen on the site:

The Business Outlook Survey is a monthly survey of manufacturers in the Third Federal Reserve District. Participants indicate the direction of change in overall business activity and in the various measures of activity at their plants: employment, working hours, new and unfilled orders, shipments, inventories, delivery times, prices paid, and prices received. The survey has been conducted each month since May 1968.

One component of this survey are diffusion indices for both “Prices Paid” and “Prices Received.” (for those unaware, this survey provides the following definition:  ”Diffusion indexes represent the percentage indicating an increase minus the percentage indicating a decrease.”)

Doug Short provides a monthly blog post concerning the Philadelphia Fed’s Business Outlook Survey.  For reference purposes, here is a chart he has created that shows, from a long-term perspective, the “Prices Paid” and “Prices Received” diffusion indices (shown by the dots) and their 12-month moving averages (shown by the solid lines) :

(click on chart to enlarge image)

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The Atlanta Federal Reserve publishes a monthly report titled “Business Inflation Expectations” (BIE) that contains statistics from a survey of regional businesses’ views on various factors that impact profitability.  These factors include unit costs, unit cost expectations, sales levels, profit margins, and other factors.

As described on the site:

Approximately 300 panelists receive the survey each month. Panelists represent businesses of various sizes headquartered within the Sixth District, which encompasses Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and sections of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee. Panelists range from executives of large corporations to owner-operators of small businesses. The industry composition of the panel roughly reflects the makeup of the national economy. Nevertheless, survey responses are weighted by industry shares of national gross domestic product.

An excerpt from the BIE Survey of August 14 (pdf) (involving 212 firms responding) :

Respondents indicated that, on average, they expect unit costs to rise 2.0 percent over the next 12 months, roughly in line with the recent year-ahead inflation forecasts of private economists. Inflation uncertainty declined to 2.3 percent in August from 2.5 percent in July. Firms also report that, compared to this time last year, their unit costs are up 1.7 percent. Sales levels improved in August, with 53 percent of respondents now saying their current sales levels are at or above normal compared to 50 percent in July. Profit margins declined slightly from the July reading, with just 45 percent of respondents indicating their profit margins are at or above normal.

The responses to the question “How do your current PROFIT MARGINS compare with ‘normal’ times?” are seen in the report.

Also, this report’s “Quarterly Question” asked “Projecting ahead over the next 12 months, how do you think the following five common influences will affect the prices of your products and/or services?”  A chart in the survey depicts the responses.

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Each month the Philadelphia Fed releases the Business Outlook Survey, which contains a variety of information concerning business conditions.

As seen on the site:

The Business Outlook Survey is a monthly survey of manufacturers in the Third Federal Reserve District. Participants indicate the direction of change in overall business activity and in the various measures of activity at their plants: employment, working hours, new and unfilled orders, shipments, inventories, delivery times, prices paid, and prices received. The survey has been conducted each month since May 1968.

One component of this survey are diffusion indices for both “Prices Paid” and “Prices Received.” (for those unaware, this survey provides the following definition:  “Diffusion indexes represent the percentage indicating an increase minus the percentage indicating a decrease.”)

Doug Short provides a monthly blog post concerning the Philadelphia Fed’s Business Outlook Survey.  For reference purposes, here is a chart he has created that shows, from a long-term perspective, the “Prices Paid” and “Prices Received” diffusion indices (shown by the dots) and their 12-month moving averages (shown by the solid lines) :

(click on chart to enlarge image)

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The Atlanta Federal Reserve publishes a monthly report titled “Business Inflation Expectations” (BIE) that contains statistics from a survey of regional businesses’ views on various factors that impact profitability.  These factors include unit costs, unit cost expectations, sales levels, profit margins, and other factors.

As described on the site:

Approximately 300 panelists receive the survey each month. Panelists represent businesses of various sizes headquartered within the Sixth District, which encompasses Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and sections of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee. Panelists range from executives of large corporations to owner-operators of small businesses. The industry composition of the panel roughly reflects the makeup of the national economy. Nevertheless, survey responses are weighted by industry shares of national gross domestic product.

An excerpt from the BIE Survey of July 17 (pdf) (involving 209 firms) :

Firms also report that, compared to this time last year, their unit costs are up 1.8 percent. The improvement in sales levels noted by respondents in June have receded somewhat, with 50 percent now saying their current sales levels are at or above normal compared to 56 percent in June. Profit margins also declined slightly from the June reading, with 46 percent of firms stating that their margins are at or above normal, compared to 49 percent in June. 

Also, this month’s “special question” was with regard to how businesses would react – from a pricing perspective – to a 10% increase or 10% decrease in raw material costs.  The chart of the questions results can be seen below:

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As well, a July 16 blog post from the Atlanta Fed, titled “Commodity Prices and Inflation:  The Perspective of Firms,” discusses the findings.

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