Reflecting a steep drop in spending on public construction, the Commerce Department released a report on Wednesday showing an unexpected pullback in U.S. construction spending in the month of December.
The report said construction spending dipped by 0.2 percent to an annual rate of $1.182 trillion in December from a revised $1.184 trillion in November. Economists had expected spending to rise by 0.2 percent.
The unexpected decrease came after construction spending surged up to its highest level in over ten years in the previous month.
Spending on public construction tumbled by 1.7 percent to an annual rate of $284.5 billion in December from $289.6 billion in November.
The Commerce Department said spending on educational construction plunged by 2.2 percent to a rate of $70.1 billion, and spending on highway construction fell by 0.6 percent to a rate of $94.3 billion.
On the other hand, the report said spending on private construction edged up by 0.2 percent to an annual rate of $897.0 billion in December from $894.8 billion in November.
Spending on residential construction climbed by 0.5 percent to a rate of $466.9 billion, while spending on non-residential construction was nearly unchanged at a rate of $430.1 billion.
The Commerce Department said the value of construction in 2016 was $1.162 trillion, 4.5 percent above the $1.112 trillion spent in 2015.
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