Construction | featured news

Caterpillar Inc, the world's largest maker of construction equipment, posted a 55 percent drop in quarterly profit on Monday due to a charge connected with accounting fraud at a Chinese subsidiary and weak demand among its dealers.

Airbus should create about 2,500 construction jobs to build a new $600 million airliner assembly plant in Mobile, Alabama, and 400 to 500 full-time jobs once production starts in 2017, a source familiar with the plans said on Saturday.

Housing starts and permits for future construction jumped to a 1-1/2 year high in November as demand for rental apartments rose, suggesting the housing market was starting to recover.

Builders broke ground on more single-family homes and apartments in June, helping the battered construction industry gain a little life after a dismal spring.

Caterpillar drove the Dow Jones industrial average higher Friday after the company reported a huge gain in first-quarter earnings. The world's largest maker of mining and construction equipment rose 2.5 percent after its earnings increased more than five-fold. The company also raised its sales and profit forecast for the year.

President Barack Obama's proposed $50 billion transportation spending program would boost jobs in the construction, manufacturing and retail industries and help bolster a struggling economy ...

New data indicate the American economy is continuing to recover despite the European slowdown.

Construction of new homes dipped unexpectedly last month in the U.S. as bad weather hit much of the country.

The downward revision, to 2.2 percent growth from 2.8 percent, was partly because shoppers did not spend as much and construction was weaker than first thought.

That's 30.7% down from the same month last year. Analysts had recently forecast a 1.7% rise in housing starts.