Construction Spending Drops in July

Construction spending fell 1% in July to its lowest level in a decade, the Commerce Department said Wednesday.

The decrease followed a revised 0.8% decline in June that was originally reported as a gain.

Economists had forecast a 0.5% drop in construction spending in July, Bloomberg reported.

Private residential construction fell 0.8%, while spending on private non-residential construction projects grew 0.8%. Public construction spending dropped 1.2%.

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