US construction spending little changed in May

Outlays on construction in the States were little changed in May.

At $1.23trn, total construction spending was essentially unchanged in May, according to the Department of Commerce.

Economists had forecast a rise of 0.3%

In comparison to the same period one year ago, spending was 4.5% higher.

Construction spending in the private sector rose by 0.6% month-on-month to reach an annual rate of $943.2bn, with residential spending 0.6% higher to $509.6bn and non-residential outlays 0.7% below April's figure at $433.6bn.

Public sector spending meanwhile was 2.1% above the month earlier level at $286.9bn.

Following Monday's data on construction, including downwards revisions to the data for previous months, economists at Barclays revised their tracking estimate for second quarter US GDP growth lower by one tenth of a percentage point to 2.4%.