Dive summary:

• Sentiment among non-residential contractors over the last six months of 2012 did not turn negative, but it pulled back from more buoyant feelings in the first half of the year.
• Associated General Contractors surveys its members monthly, and its data for the second half of the year show pullbacks in how they felt about sales expectations, profit margins and staffing levels.
• Any index number above 50 is a positive reading, but the changes from the first half to the second half were 66.3 to 62.3 for sales, 56.3 to 55.9 for profits and 62.2 to 59.6 for staffing.

From the article:

"The ongoing lack of confidence, including among those who would otherwise purchase construction services, continues to produce small and halting gains in nonresidential construction spending," said (Anirban) Basu. ...