"The outlook we have for the economy is to decelerate through the year," Huether said, adding that he expected the manufacturing index to remain around 54 to 55.

The Creighton report, which surveys manufacturers and business leaders in Utah, Colorado and Wyoming, found the overall business conditions index for the region down slightly to 65.8 from April's 67.7. Colorado's overall index was 63.5, down from April's 68.0 and March's 80.6, while Wyoming rode a steep decline to 74.8 from April's 81.1 and March's 82.1.

Still, Goss remained bullish — about the region, at least.

"The Mountain States region, with a large mining, resource and extraction sector, has experienced economic and job expansion at a rate greatly exceeding that of the rest of the nation," Goss wrote. "I expect this growth gap to remain through the second quarter of this year."

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