construction spending

Official name: Value of Construction Put in Place

What exactly? A measure of the value of new private (including residential and nonresidential) and public (meaning government) construction put in place

Source: Census Bureau

Frequency: Monthly

Released when? First business day of the month at 10 a.m. Eastern. Data for two months prior.

Market importance: Little. Rarely moves markets. Dated. Public construction used to predict the government spending portion of gross domestic product. Residential and nonresidential construction used to help predict the investment portion of GDP.

Other notes: The headline number is the percent change from the prior month, but we also graph the year-on-year change. That way you can see the rate at which construction spending is increasing or decreasing.