January's "value of construction put in place" jumped to a record seasonally adjusted annual rate of $878 billion.

"Mining and Construction are the only categories [out of 10 sectors] that foresee increases over both last year and last quarter."

Sales of existing single-family homes jumped in December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5,860,000, third highest ever, the National Assn. of Realtors announced.

Value put in place of numbers for tepid total.

"The overall picture is bright for the moment, with a brilliant housing sector, darkness on the private nonresidential side, and fuzziness in the public sector."

Housing continues to lead the economy. The government reported that housing starts jumped 13% from August to September to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,843,000.

The two principal indicators of construction activity this week signaled an industry treading water. Today the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that payroll employment, seasonally adjusted, fell by 43,000 in September after an upwardly revised rise in August.

The economy and the construction industry sound like an out-of-step marching band these days.

A record amount of single-family homebuilding plus an uptick in public construction enabled overall construction to stabilize in July despite another drop in private nonresidential building.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics released seasonally adjusted July employment and unemployment data by state.