Construction Spending Dips in November

Construction spending fell 0.3% in November, the Commerce Department said Wednesday.

The decrease brought outlays to $866 billion and followed a revised 0.7% decrease in October that was smaller than previously estimated, Commerce said.

Economists had forecast a 0.6% increase, Bloomberg reported.

Private construction spending decreased 0.2%, while homebuilding outlays rose 0.4% to $295.3 billion.

Public construction decreased 0.4% from the prior month.

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