Mubasher: Spending on US construction projects fell in May, as investment private projects hit its lowest level in around two years and a half.

Construction spending, including housing, non-residential and government building projects, fell by 0.8% at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.293 trillion last May, from the revised $1.304 trillion the prior month the US Commerce Department’s Census Bureau said on Monday.

On an annualised basis, construction expenditure dropped by 2.3% last May.

Private construction spending declined by 0.7% month-on-month to $953.2 billion, to the lowest level since January 2017, from the revised estimate of $960.3 billion.

Private non-residential construction spending went down by 0.9% to $454.3 billion in May.

Investments in public construction projects dropped by 0.9% in May, after climbing by 4.5% in the preceding, while spending on state and local government construction went down by 0.6%.

Federal government construction projects plunged by 5.2%.

By 3:02 pm GMT, the US dollar index jumped by 0.46% to 96.58.