Global| Jun 02 2011U.S. Construction Spending Remains Weak
by:Tom Moeller
|in:Economy in Brief
Summary
Reported yesterday, the value of construction spending rose 0.4% during April following a 0.1% uptick in March, revised down from a 1.4% gain reported last month. Consensus expectations as indicated by Action Economics called for a [...]
Reported yesterday, the value of construction spending rose 0.4%
during April following a 0.1% uptick in March, revised down from a 1.4%
gain reported last month. Consensus expectations as indicated by Action
Economics called for a 0.3% monthly gain.
The rise in construction last month was led by a 1.7% gain in private sector building. That increase reflected a 3.1% jump in residential building but the prior month was revised down sharply. Volatility in improvements has been most extreme. First off, it rose 7.6% in April (-12.0% y/y) but the March decline of 0.1% was revised down from a 6.9% rise reported initially. Single-family construction fell 1.0% in April (-12.8% y/y) after similar declines during the prior two months. Multi-family building slipped 0.1% (-7.6% y/y).
Nonresidential construction activity ticked up 0.5% in April led by a 3.9% gain in education (-6.1% y/y), a 2.7% (-16.2% y/y) rise in amusements & recreation and a 0.8% rise in health care (-1.5% y/y). Commercial building fell 1.3% (-9.2% y/y).
Public construction activity fell 1.9% (-7.5% y/y), the seventh consecutive down month. Highways and streets building fell 1.6% (-5.6% y/y).
The construction put-in-place figures are available in Haver's USECON database. The expectations figure is contained in Haver's AS1REPNA database.
| Construction Put in Place (%) | Apr | Mar | Feb | Y/Y | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 0.4 | 0.1 | -2.0 | -9.3 | -10.4 | -14.9 | -7.5 |
| Private | 1.7 | 0.4 | -1.5 | -10.3 | -14.3 | -21.9 | -12.2 |
| Residential | 3.1 | -0.7 | -5.4 | -12.1 | -1.4 | -29.9 | -29.0 |
| Nonresidential | 0.5 | 1.4 | 2.4 | -8.5 | -23.4 | -15.0 | 10.5 |
| Public | -1.9 | -0.4 | -2.8 | -7.5 | -3.1 | 2.2 | 6.6 |
Tom Moeller
AuthorMore in Author Profile »Prior to joining Haver Analytics in 2000, Mr. Moeller worked as the Economist at Chancellor Capital Management from 1985 to 1999. There, he developed comprehensive economic forecasts and interpreted economic data for equity and fixed income portfolio managers. Also at Chancellor, Mr. Moeller worked as an equity analyst and was responsible for researching and rating companies in the economically sensitive automobile and housing industries for investment in Chancellor’s equity portfolio. Prior to joining Chancellor, Mr. Moeller was an Economist at Citibank from 1979 to 1984. He also analyzed pricing behavior in the metals industry for the Council on Wage and Price Stability in Washington, D.C. In 1999, Mr. Moeller received the award for most accurate forecast from the Forecasters' Club of New York. From 1990 to 1992 he was President of the New York Association for Business Economists. Mr. Moeller earned an M.B.A. in Finance from Fordham University, where he graduated in 1987. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from George Washington University.
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