U.S. Construction Spending Unexpectedly Increases In August

(RTTNews) - A report released by the Commerce Department on Thursday showed an unexpected increase in U.S. construction spending in the month of August.

The Commerce Department said construction spending climbed by 0.9 percent to an annual rate of $2.203 trillion in August after edging down by 0.1 percent to a revised rate of $2.185 trillion in July.

Economists had expected construction spending to come in unchanged compared to the 0.5 percent decrease originally reported for the previous month.

"Construction spending was stronger than expected in August, and upward revisions to prior months' data pushed our Q3 GDP nowcast for nonresidential investment to 4.3% annualized," said Matthew Martin, Senior U.S. Economist at Oxford Economics.

He added, "Data center construction remains at the heart of the strength, with little signs of a slowdown imminent."

The unexpected growth in construction spending largely reflected a sharp increase in spending on private construction, which jumped by 1.1 percent to an annual rate of $1.655 trillion.

Spending on residential construction surged by 1.1 percent to an annual rate of $882.3 billion, while spending on non-residential construction shot up by 1.0 percent to an annual rate of $773.0 billion.

The report said spending on public construction also rose by 0.2 percent to an annual rate of $547.8 billion, reflecting slight upticks in spending on both highway and educational construction.