by Mike ‘Mish’ Shedlock
Mish Talk
Construction spending month-over-month declined 0.6% vs an expected gain of 0.6% in a Bloomberg Consensus Range of 0.2% to 2.2%. Spending is on the verge of negativity year-over-year.
Revisions are all over the place. May was revised up by 0.7 percentage points but April lower by 0.9 percentage points.
Highlights
Construction spending has to show the strength based on other data including housing starts and permits. Spending fell 0.6 percent in June vs expectations for a 0.6 percent gain. Revisions are mixed with May revised upward from a 0.8 percent drop to a decline of only 0.1 percent but April revised from minus 2.0 percent to a drop of 2.9 percent.
Spending on single-family construction fell 0.4 percent in June to extend a surprisingly negative streak that goes back to March. Year-on-year, construction spending on single-family homes is up only 4.8 percent vs a 16.4 gain for multi-family units where monthly data for June, however, also show contraction, at minus 1.5 percent.