The stock market was flat today as investors weighed conflicting data about the state of the U.S. economy.
Outlays for U.S. construction projects surged in October, the U.S. Commerce Department reported. Construction spending rose 1.4 percent in October, well above analysts’ expectations of a 0.5-percent gain. In October, spending on private construction rose 1.6 percent while spending on public projects rose 0.8 percent. Spending on private homebuilding surged 3.0 percent in the month.
However, U.S. manufacturers contracted in November and activity fell to the lowest level since July 2009, as new orders sank and employment plans were scaled back, according to the closely followed Institute for Supply Management (ISM) Index.
The ISM Index fell to 49.5 percent from 51.7% percent in October. Any reading under 50 indicates more manufacturers are shrinking instead of expanding.
The index has now fallen in four of the last six months.
The Milwaukee-area manufacturing sector continued to decline in November, but at a slower rate than in the previous month, according to the ISM. Milwaukee’s November seasonally adjusted Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) was 45.5, up from 43.3 in October.
