Hi,

If you x axis is a category axis then the simple way is to add another
series and plot it as a column chart. You will need to set the maximum
value of the Y axis and use the same value for your column series data.
Place the value against each data point you want shading. Format the
column series to have a Gap Width of zero, this option is on the Series
Option of the format dialog.

If the dates are being plotted as true dates then you could use a second
data series plotted as an area chart. This will require some addition
date points in order to make the end of the plot vertical.

Cheers
Andy

cmc14 wrote:
In a line graph of monthly unemployment rates over many years, economists
like to shade a region between 2 selected months (x axis) in order to denote
a recsession. How can this be done in an Excel chart?



--

Andy Pope, Microsoft MVP - Excel
http://www.andypope.info