The Commerce Department reported on Wednesday the U.S. construction spending surged up by 1.3 percent m-o-m to an annual rate of $1.280 trillion in January 2019 after a revised 0.8 percent m-o-m fall in December 2018 (originally, a 0.6 percent m-o-m drop).

Economists had expected construction spending to rise by 0.4 percent m-o-m.

According to the report, spending on highway construction spiked by 11.8 percent m-o-m to a rate of $99.9 billion, while spending on educational construction jumped by 2.2 percent m-o-m to a rate of $77.8 billion.

Spending on private construction rose by 0.2 percent m-o-m to a rate of $964.2 billion, as an advance in spending on non-residential construction was partially offset by a decline in spending on residential construction.

In y-o-y terms, construction spending rose by 0.3 percent in January.