The Commerce Department's report released on Friday indicates a slight rise in U.S. construction spending for September, attributed to increased public construction investments.
Construction spending ticked up by 0.1 percent, reaching an annual rate of $2.149 trillion in September, following a revised increase of 0.1 percent to $2.146 trillion in August.
Economists had anticipated that construction spending would remain unchanged after a previously reported 0.1 percent decline in the prior month.
This modest uptick in construction spending was driven by a 0.5 percent increase in overall construction spending, which reached an annual rate of $495.2 billion in September.
Spending on educational construction rose by 0.3 percent to $104.2 billion, while highway construction spending increased by 0.5 percent to $141.0 billion.
On the private construction front, spending remained nearly unchanged at an annual rate of $1.654 trillion in September, consistent with the revised August figures. Residential construction spending edged up by 0.2 percent to $913.6 billion, while non-residential construction saw a slight decline of 0.1 percent to $740.0 billion.