U.S. Dodge Momentum Index falls for second straight month in August

The Dodge Momentum Index dropped in August from a downwardly revised reading of July. The index fell 2.4 percent in August to 129.1 from July’s revised print of 132.2. This is the second consecutive month that the Dodge Momentum Index has dropped. On a year-on-year basis, the index rose 0.3 percent.

These two most recent readings indicate towards moderate construction growth into 2018. Eight projects of USD 100 million or more entered planning in August. For institutional, a USD 230 million hospital in New Mexico and USD 218 million high school in Texas came on line. Meanwhile, a USD 202 million hotel in New York led commercial plans.

The commercial element dropped sharply to 131.7 in August, an 8.7 percent drop on a sequential basis. After leading the index over the past year, this marks the first year-on-year decline since April 2016, 1.2 percent compared to last August.

The institutional component was up 7.3 percent in the month, bouncing back from July’s 9.1 percent decline. Over the yea, the second rose 2.3 percent. But there were stronger yearly gains institutionally in months ahead as plans fell 9 percent in September through December in 2016, noted Wells Fargo.

At 16:00 GMT the FxWirePro's Hourly Strength Index of US Dollar was highly bearish at -175.845. For more details on FxWirePro's Currency Strength Index, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex

FxWirePro launches Absolute Return Managed Program. For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/invest