WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - A report released by the Commerce Department on Monday showed a much smaller than expected increase in U.S. construction spending in the month of February.
The Commerce Department said construction spending inched up by 0.1 percent to an annual rate of $1.273 trillion in February after coming in nearly unchanged at $1.272 trillion in January. Economists had expected spending to climb by 0.6 percent.
The uptick in construction spending was primarily due to an increase in spending on private construction, which rose by 0.7 percent to a rate of $982.0 billion in February from $974.8 billion in January.
Spending on residential construction edged up by 0.1 percent to a rate of $533.4 billion, while spending on non-residential construction jumped by 1.5 percent to a rate of $448.6 billion.
On the other hand, the report said spending on public construction plunged by 2.1 percent to a rate of $291.1 billion in February from $297.4 billion in January.
The Commerce Department said spending on educational construction fell by 0.5 percent to a rate of $74.6 billion and spending on highway construction dipped by 0.2 percent to a rate of $88.5 billion.
During the first two months of the year, construction spending amounted to $176.3 billion, 4.4 percent above the $168.9 billion in the same period in 2017.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX