Dive Brief:

• Lack of clarity about the economy is a backdrop for any story about the outlook for construction  getting better or worse, and a second straight month of a decrease in the Architectural Billings Index is doing its part to confuse the scene.
• As reports this week have had commercial contractors expressing optimism about the year, the American Institute of Architects said the national index that measures work being booked for construction nine to 12 months out was at 48.5 in December, down from a November reading of 49.8 that was down from October.
• The last time the index sank two months in a row was May and June of 2012, but then it resumed a generally upward path.

Dive Insight:

The index is set up so that a number of 50 or higher means architects are generally seeing more work, and below 50 means bookings are falling off. AIA Chief Economist Kermit Baker said a two-month decline bears watching to try to understand if there was something about the U.S. economy in the last months of the year that was unusual or if the downturn indicates problems ahead. By region, the West and South were over 50 last month, and the Northeast and Midwest were under the mark.