A report from the Commerce Department released on Tuesday revealed an unexpected slight decline in U.S. construction spending for the month of August.
According to the report, construction spending decreased by 0.1 percent, reaching an annual rate of $2.132 trillion in August. This follows a 0.5 percent decline to a revised rate of $2.134 trillion in July.
Economists had anticipated a modest increase of 0.1 percent in construction spending, in contrast to the initially reported 0.3 percent drop for the previous month.
The unexpected decrease in overall construction spending was driven by a 0.2 percent reduction in private construction, bringing it to an annual rate of $1.642 trillion.
Residential construction spending fell by 0.3 percent, amounting to an annual rate of $899.9 billion. Non-residential construction also saw a slight dip of 0.1 percent, resulting in an annual rate of $742.2 billion.
In contrast, public construction spending rose by 0.3 percent, achieving an annual rate of $489.8 billion. While spending on educational construction remained stable at an annual rate of $102.4 billion, highway construction saw a significant increase of 1.1 percent, climbing to an annual rate of $141.4 billion.
