April Construction Spending up 0.4%

As a follow-up, we forgot to mention the other disappointing economic indicator released this morning, construction spending for April.  It increased 0.4% from March, but this so-called rebound was below the consensus of 1.0%.  We note that the decline in March was revised a bit lower, from -1.7% to -0.8%.  private non-residential outlays led the way with a 2.2% increase.  Growth in non-new housing, new housing, and MDUs (multi-dimensional units) slowed down a bit.  In fact, while new housing and MDU construction spending grew more than 1%, non-new housing plummeted by more than 3%.  Public outlays continued to dip, down another 1.2%, after declining nearly 3% in March.