Utah's business conditions fell sharply in February, as the state's hot economy experienced a predicted slowdown, according to a report Thursday from the Creighton Economic Forecasting Group.

The Mountain States Business Conditions Index tracks business conditions based on an index that ranges from zero to 100. Utah's index reading declined from a "supercharged " 86.8 in January to "a still brisk" 64.4 last month, the report said.

"Over the past year, Utah has added approximately 57,000 jobs as the unemployment rate plummeted by 1.4 percent. While growth will be strong for the first half of 2007 and above the national average, I expect it to be well below that for the same period in 2006," Ernie Goss, Creighton University economics professor, wrote in the report.

All three states examined in the index — Colorado, Utah and Wyoming — reported declines. Colorado saw its index fall to 54.2 from January's 69.8, while Wyoming's index was 75.6, down from January's 77. The overall Business Conditions Index for the region declined to 65.3 from January's vigorous 73.8.

"As in January, survey participants registered very healthy economic growth with strong readings for durable-goods manufacturers and value-added service firms, but with somewhat weaker business activity for nondurable manufacturers," Goss wrote. "Economic activity was much stronger in Utah and Wyoming than in Colorado.

"The region's rate of growth is clearly surpassing that of the nation as very healthy activity stemming from growth in energy and energy-related firms spills over into the rest of the regional economy."

Meanwhile, the nation's manufacturing sector shook off the housing slowdown in February, expanding faster than expected and reversing the prior month's contraction, a trade group said Thursday.

The Institute for Supply Management, based in Tempe, Ariz., said its manufacturing index registered 52.3 in February, above the January reading of 49.3 and Wall Street's expectation of 50. As in the Creighton report, an ISM reading above 50 indicates growth for the sector.

---

Contributing: The Associated Press

E-mail: jnii@desnews.com