OMAHA, N.E.(KELO & Northern Plains News)- Our region’s manufacturing economy showed some improvement in July…but it’s just barely in positive territory.

That’s the latest reading from the Mid America Business Conditions Index from Creighton University.

Overall, manufacturing is growing…but jobs growth is slow.

More troubling…Economist Dr. Ernie Goss says inflation remains well above the Fed’s target rate of two percent.

Because of that, Goss expects the Fed to raise interest rates in September to tame inflation.

With inflation running higher than desired and the slow-growth economy, Goss says stagflation is becoming more of a risk.

The regional farm economy is weak and the job market is slow…but manufacturing is on a roll.

Goss says we can expect solid manufacturing growth in coming months.

A major concern is inflation, which has been running higher than the Fed’s target rate of 2% since the pandemic in 2020.

Goss also looked into the farming economy in the region:

• For a third straight month, the farm and ranchland value index expanded above growth neutral but dipped in July.
• Low and negative cash flows combined with trade/tariff volatility pushed the regional farm equipment sales index below growth neutral for the 35th straight month.
• Despite weak farm and ranch net cash flows, approximately 53.7% of bankers indicated that their banks had not tightened credit standards in the last three months. The remaining 46.3% reported tightening standards “somewhat.”
• More than half, or 52.0%, of bank CEOs reported that very weak commodity prices will be the greatest challenge to the agriculture economy moving forward.