Construction Spending Drops in June

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.S. construction spending fell 0.3% in June, the fourth consecutive monthly decline, the Commerce Department said Monday.

The $1.093 trillion annual rate measured in June followed a 1.7% drop in May, Commerce said.

Construction spending can boost demand for trucking services because spending increases the number of shipments of goods and building materials.

The decrease may be a reflection of government revisions in July that switched four of the first five months of the year from gains to declines, Bloomberg reported. Before Commerce’s revisions, which stretch back to 1998, construction spending had risen for 15 straight months.

Private residential construction, which accounts for more than half of construction spending, fell 0.4% to an annual rate of $609.1 billion in June, though residential construction is up 9% from a year earlier.

Non-residential construction fell 0.4% to $483.0 billion.

Construction spending by the government dropped 0.5% in June, Commerce reported.