ECONOMY

Construction Spending Falls Again: Cuts in residential and government spending reduced total construction expenditures in February, marking the first back-to-back monthly declines in a year. Spending fell 0.5% in January as well. Overall in February, residential, non-residential and public spending fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $523.3 billion, the Commerce Department reported. Although the non-residential outlays jumped to their highest level in more than four years, they did not offset the declines in home building and government projects.