Dive Brief:

• Nonresidential construction spending was down from November to December and from December 2012 to December 2013 overall and in most categories, according to Associated Builders and Contractors' analysis of federal data.
• The group remained unworried, however, and again predicted that overall economic growth in the U.S. means there will be nonresidential construction growth this year.
• The December annual spending rate – $573.07 billion on a seasonally adjusted basis – was 1.3% lower than the rate in November and 1.1% below the last month of 2012.

Dive Insight:

The optimism is based in part on attributing the November-to-December decline to weather. Chief Economist Anirban Basu said we should expect nonresidential construction to "expand neatly" this year – something that lodging construction did last year with a 31% leap.