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January 23, 2009
Global steel output fell last year after climbing for six years, as demand by car makers and construction dropped amid recessions in the U.S. and Europe, the World Steel Association said Thursday.Steel production dropped 1.2 percent from a record high in 2007 and tumbled nearly a quarter in December from the same month in the previous year, said the group.The downturn comes after steel makers...
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January 23, 2009
In further signs of the dire economic situation, new-home construction fell to record lows in December and jobless claims continued to soar, the government reported Thursday.New-home construction fell 15.5 percent from November to December to an annual pace of 550,000 units, the slowest pace since the Commerce Department starting compiling the data in 1959. Home builders have all but shut down...
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January 22, 2009
New proposed infrastructure and public building investments will create or support almost 2 million jobs throughout the entire economy in part because of the economic slowdown and massive construction lay offs that have occurred, said Stephen Fuller, George Mason University economist, according to a Jan. 22 AGC release.Fuller, who made the arguments during Congressional testimony today on behalf...
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January 22, 2009
The American Institute of Architects is reporting a small increase in its December architectural billings index, but still 19 points lower than it was a year earlier.The index—considered a leading economic indicator of construction activity—continued to show decreases in billings, but the rate increased from the continued record lows reported by the institute between October and...
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January 17, 2009
PPG Industries Inc., the world's second-biggest paint maker, said fourth-quarter profit fell 65 percent because the weak global economy hurt sales of industrial coatings and glass.Net income dropped to $71 million, or 43 cents a share, from $200 million, or $1.21, a year earlier, Pittsburgh-based PPG said Friday in a statement. Sales rose 2.7 percent to $3.19 billion.Chief Executive Officer...
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January 16, 2009
Manufacturing in New York contracted for a ninth straight month in January and a gauge of expectations for six months from now was negative for the first time on record.The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s general economic index rose to minus 22.2 from a revised minus 27.9 in December that was lower than previously reported, the bank said today. Readings below zero for the Empire State...
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January 8, 2009
An estimated two-thirds of the nation's non-residential construction companies are planning to cut their payrolls, according to new employment and business forecast figures released today by the Associated General Contractors of America, Arlington, Va. All told, those layoffs are forecast to result in a 30 percent decline in the number of people working on construction projects."Unless the...
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December 16, 2008
The Producer Price Index for finished goods dropped 2.9 percent before seasonal adjustment (-2.2 percent, seasonally adjusted) in November, and rose only 0.4 percent from November 2007, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Friday. The PPI for inputs to construction industries fell 3.2 percent for the month but was 4.9 percent higher than in November 2007. The segment...
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December 2, 2008
Construction spending fell 1.2 percent from September to October, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.07 trillion, the Census Bureau reported today. However, Census bumped up its estimates for September and August by more than $20 billion (2 percent) each, enough to improve the estimate for third-quarter gross domestic product. Private residential spending in October was down 3.5...
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December 2, 2008
The producer price index for finished goods had a record single-month drop in October: 2.6 percent, not seasonally adjusted (-2.8 percent, seasonally adjusted), the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Tuesday, although the index still rose 3.7 percent over 12 months. The PPI for inputs to construction industries, which is a weighted average of materials used in every type of...