A report released by the Commerce Department on Monday unexpectedly showed a slight decrease in U.S. construction spending in the month of February.
The report said construction edged down by 0.1 percent to an annual rate of $1.844 trillion in February after climbing by 0.4 percent to a revised rate of $1.845 trillion in January.
Economists had expected construction spending to be unchanged compared to the 0.1 percent dip originally reported for the previous month.
The modest decrease in construction spending came as spending on public construction slipped by 0.2 percent to an annual rate of $391.0 billion.
Spending on educational construction slumped by 0.9 percent to a rate of $84.6 billion, more than offsetting a 0.3 percent increase in spending on highway construction to a rate of $120.6 billion.
Meanwhile, the Commerce Department said spending on private construction was virtually unchanged from the previous month at an annual rate of $1.453 trillion.
While spending on residential construction slid by 0.6 percent to a rate of $852.1 billion, spending on non-residential construction climbed by 0.7 percent to a rate of $601.0 billion.
