U.S. construction spending slides a tad in January

WASHINGTON, March 1 (Xinhua) -- U.S. construction spending slid 0.1 percent in January to 1.826 trillion U.S. dollars, according to data released Wednesday by the Commerce Department.

Analysts on Wall Street had predicted a rise of 0.3 percent.

Private construction spending remained nearly unchanged from December's estimate of 1.4426 billion dollars.

Residential construction stood at an adjusted annual rate of 847.4 billion dollars in January, 0.6 percent less than December's 852.1 billion dollar estimate; and nonresidential construction spending was tagged at 595.2 billion dollars, an increase of 0.9 percent from December's 589.9 billion dollar estimate.

The rate of public construction spending came in at 383.1 billion dollars, a 0.6 percent decrease from December's 385.5 billion dollars, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.