The Commerce Department says construction spending dropped by 0.3 percent in September, less than the 0.8 percent decline many economists had been expecting. Spending had been up by 0.3 percent in August after a huge 2.4 percent plunge in July.
The weakness in September was led by a 1.3 percent drop in housing construction, which has fallen every month but two over the past 30 months. Spending on government projects fell by 1.3 percent, the biggest setback since January.
