San Francisco Full report Despite winter's last blast in a severe blizzard April 4-6 and record flooding in the Red River Valley, moderate economic growth continues in the Ninth District. Construction is rolling into yet another strong season. Output remains strong in most natural resource sectors, despite some decline in oil drilling. Manufacturers report good sales and note few input bottlenecks or other impediments to production.
Retailers describe generally good sales.
After a somewhat spotty winter recreation season, tourism businesses are generally optimistic about the 1997 summer season. Employment levels remain high, and there are some indications of wage pressures in manufacturing. But there are few reports of price increases for goods and services, and fuel prices have dropped slightly. On the negative side, this historic winter's last blasts caused additional deaths in Dakota beef herds and unusually high mortality among the new calf crop. Flooding is causing unprecedented damage in the Red River Valley on the North Dakota-Minnesota border and will cause some delay in planting crops.