After a decline in December, the Dodge Momentum Index, a monthly measure of initial reports for nonresidential building projects in planning, posted a 4.7% rise in January. The index, which is issued by construction industry workflow solutions provider Dodge Data & Analytics, has been shown to lead spending for buildings in this sector by a full year.

The new score of 157.7 not only brings it back on par with the one registered in November, it is also consistent with average scores in the last six months of 2018 and just slightly below the current expansion's record score tallied in July of last year.

Both components of the index experienced growth - institutional building up 5.0%, buoyed by public funding for projects such as schools and transportation terminals; and commercial building up 4.6%, in spite of it remaining below the highs set during the summer of 2018.