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Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
Profits & Margins Plunge In Q1: Expect More Margin Contraction As Fed Squeezes Inflation
The Many Links of Inflation Cycle: Hard Landing Is Needed to Crack Them
Peak Inflation and Fed Policy: A Relationship which Should Worry the Fed and Scare Investors
Why Have the Yields on TIPS Been Negative in the Past Two Years?
by Tom Moeller May 1, 2012
The value of construction put-in-place ticked 0.1% higher during March following a 1.4% February decline, initially reported as -1.1%. Consensus expectations had been for a 0.4% rise. Private sector spending increased 0.7% (11.5% y/y) after a downwardly revised 1.9% February drop. Residential building continued to recover and notched up 0.7% (7.4% y/y). Single-family construction increased 3.8% (10.3% y/y) but multi-family building fell 3.1% (+23.3% y/y). The value of spending on improvements fell 1.9% (+2.6% y/y), the fourth consecutive monthly drop. In the public sector, building activity was off 1.1% (-3.2% y/y) as budget cutbacks caused widespread weakness. Spending on highway & streets fell 0.8% (-0.5% y/y) while office building dropped 1.2% (-8.9% y/y). Educational building dropped 1.2% (-2.7% y/y) and transportation was unchanged (-11.1% y/y).
The construction spending figures are in Haver's USECON database and the expectations figure is contained in the AS1REPNA database.
Construction Put in Place (%) | Mar | Feb | Jan | Y/Y | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total | 0.1 | -1.4 | -0.7 | 6.0 | -1.7 | -11.3 | -15.3 |
Private | 0.7 | -1.9 | -0.0 | 11.5 | 0.9 | -15.2 | -22.4 |
Residential | 0.7 | -2.2 | 0.5 | 7.4 | -0.8 | -2.9 | -29.9 |
Nonresidential | 0.7 | -1.7 | -0.5 | 15.2 | 2.6 | -24.0 | -16.0 |
Public | -1.1 | -0.3 | -2.1 | -3.2 | -6.1 | -3.9 | 2.1 |