• Take a broad view, and construction spending during July looks good – down 0.9% from June's number but up 9.3% from where it was in July 2011. Start to dive in, though, and the public sector is worrisome for contractors who work there.
• Everyone appeared to be happy with the performance of residential construction. Single-family construction was up 1.5% from June and 19% from July 2011, and multifamily work was up 2.8% for the month and 45% for the 12 months. Speculation was that a 5.5% falloff in improvements accounted for an overall monthly decline of 1.6%, and Associated General Contractors said the improvements number is often revised as more data come in.
• What concerned both AGC and Associated Builders and Contractors was the still-contracting public sector – down 0.4% month-to-month and 0.7% year-to-year. AGC said the sector would remain weak until lawmakers in Washington "enact long-delayed measures for essential water, wastewater and other infrastructure projects."

From the release:

Construction spending in July maintained consistent year-over-year growth despite a pullback from the June peak, according to an analysis of new federal data released today by the Associated General Contractors of America. ...