Construction spending rises, but factory index falls

There was one victory and one setback regarding the latest construction and factory data points for the U.S. economy: construction spending rose but a key manufacturing index edged lower.

Construction spending rose 0.8 percent in August to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $941.9 billion, the U.S. Commerce Department announced Thursday, led by an increase in private residential building. However, the August data was qualified by the fact that construction spending fell a revised 1.1 percent in July, from the previously released 0.2 percent decline. The revision highlights the margin-of-error contingent nature of the monthly construction data: hence, August's initial report barely offset July's revised decline.