Dive Brief:

• Prices for most building materials rose in February, according to monthly data collected by the U.S. Department of Labor.
• Materials were up 0.7% from January, though they were only 0.6% above where they stood in February 2013, the government said.
• ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu said that while relatively stable prices during the last three quarters in 2013 appeared to be done, there could be some decreasing prices later this year if indications that China's economic expansion is slowing turn out to be correct.

Dive Insight:

It will be interesting to see how the overall materials price picture shapes up when – if? – winter leaves the central and eastern portions of the country. Basu noted that crude energy and natural gas prices were far and away the leaders in February materials increases, and "it is difficult to say if increased demand had any part in the month’s price growth" or if existing users just needed a lot more of them.