Regional business index rises during February

SALT LAKE CITY — Business conditions in the Beehive State are improving, according to a report released Tuesday.

The state's Business Conditions Index, a leading economic indicator, climbed above the 50.0 growth neutral threshold. Based on the monthly survey of the membership of National Association of Purchasing Managers — Utah, the overall index climbed to a "very healthy" 59.8 from 55.9 in January.

Components of the index for February were new orders at 63.7, production or sales at 64.9, delivery lead time at 59.9, inventories at 58.8, and employment at 51.7.

"Even though the trend in manufacturing employment has been very healthy over the past year, Utah's manufacturing sector is still off more than 19,000 jobs since the beginning of the recession," said Ernie Goss, director of Creighton University's Economic Forecasting Group and the Goss Institute for Economic Research. The positive trends in both manufacturing and overall job growth are expected to continue for the first half of 2011, he said.

For the 17th consecutive month, the overall index for the Mountain States region of Colorado, Utah and Wyoming advanced past growth neutral 50.0.

The Business Conditions Index, which ranges between 0 and 100, climbed to 59.5 for February from January's 56.2 in the region. An index greater than 50 indicates an expansionary economy over the course of the next three to six months.

The index is a mathematical average of indicies for new orders, production or sales, employment, inventories and delivery lead time.

A rapidly growing energy sector and soaring trade are pushing growth higher for firms in the region, particularly companies with ties to the energy or international markets, the report stated.

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