This Week: Construction spending, Fed survey, US jobs report

The Commerce Department issues its October tally of U.S. construction spending Tuesday

A look at some of the key business events and economic indicators upcoming this week:

EYE ON CONSTRUCTION

U.S. construction spending has been mostly rising this year after a spring swoon caused by the economic fallout from the pandemic.

Spending fell in March, April and May and has notched gains every month since, including a 0.3% increase in September. Spending on residential construction has been particularly strong as builders move to capitalize on a red hot housing market. Did the trend continue in October? Find out Tuesday, when the Commerce Department issues its latest monthly construction spending data.

Construction spending, monthly percent change, seasonally adjusted:

May -1.3

June 1.0

July 1.1

Aug. 0.8

Sept. 0.3

Oct. (est.) 0.7

Source: FactSet

ECONOMIC SNAPSHOT

The Federal Reserve delivers findings from its latest survey of business conditions around the country Wednesday.

The report, known as the beige book, is based on responses gathered by the Fed’s 12 regional banks and is used by the central bank to help formulate interest rate policy. The last report, which was issued in late October, found that the U.S. economy was growing at a slight to modest pace. It also documented many areas of economic activity hobbled by the pandemic.

ALL ABOUT JOBS

Economists predict hiring in the U.S. increased in November after declining the previous three months.

They expect the Labor Department will report Friday that nonfarm employers added 700,000 jobs in November. That would be an increase from October, when the economy added 638,000 jobs and the national unemployment rate dropped a full percentage point to 6.9%. The pace of hiring has not been robust enough to rapidly absorb the millions of Americans who were thrown out of work by the pandemic recession.

Nonfarm payrolls, monthly change, seasonally adjusted:

June 4,781,000

July 1,761,000

Aug. 1,493,000

Sept. 672,000

Oct. 638,000

Nov. (est.) 700,000

Source: FactSet