U.S. Construction Spending Unexpectedly Drops 0.5% In February

(RTTNews) - Primarily reflecting a steep drop in spending on public construction, the Commerce Department released a report on Friday showing an unexpected decrease in total U.S. construction spending in the month of February.

The report said construction spending fell 0.5 percent to an annual rate of $1.144 trillion in February after jumping 2.1 percent to a revised $1.150 trillion in January.

The pullback came as a surprise to economists, who had expected construction spending to inch up by about 0.2 percent.

Spending on public construction showed a substantial decrease, tumbling by 1.7 percent to an annual rate of $297.8 billion.

The steep drop reflected a 4.2 percent decrease in spending on educational construction as well as a 2.1 percent decline in spending on highway construction.

The report showed a more modest decrease in spending on private construction, which edged down by 0.1 percent to an annual rate of $846.2 billion.

Spending on non-residential construction slumped 1.3 percent to a rate of $398.3 billion, but spending on residential construction climbed 0.9 percent to a rate of $447.9 billion.

Despite the monthly decrease, the Commerce Department noted that total construction spending in February was up by 10.3 percent compared to the same month a year ago.