Construction Spending Drops 1.1%
Construction spending fell 1.1% in March, the Commerce Department said Thursday.
The downturn followed a revised 0.4% gain in February that was originally reported as a decline, Commerce said.
Economists had forecast a 0.7% decline, Bloomberg reported.
Private residential construction plunged 4.6%, the biggest drop since comparable records began being kept in 1993, Bloomberg said.
Non-residential construction, including public projects, rose 1.3%, though it was up 12% from a year earlier.
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Construction spending can boost demand for trucking services because spending increases the number of shipments of goods and building materials.