The U.S. Census Bureau of
the Department of Commerce announced June 29 that construction spending during
May 2007 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,176.6 billion
(0.9 percent) above the revised April estimate of $1,166.0 billion.
At
the recent 14th Council Session of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, the U.S. EPA and its Canadian and Mexican counterparts agreed
that the CEC should lead initiatives to promote green building throughout the
continent.
The metropolitan areas of Indianapolis-Carmel,
Ind., and Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, Ohio-Pa., tied for the title of most
affordable major U.S. housing market in this year’s first quarter, according to
the June 28 Housing
Opportunity Index.
Australian water-efficient toilet manufacturer,
Caroma, announced that 20 of its more than 30 dual-flush toilets for the North
American market have been certified to carry the EPA’s new WaterSense label.
The current round of construction materials
inflation continued in May 2007 with the index up 0.8%, the fourth consecutive
increase after nine months of no change.
About 100 employees of Crane Plumbing LLC will lose their
jobs when the company shutters its steel plant manufacturing operations at the
end of August.
Profits for electrical distributors in 2006 rose
sharply to the highest level since 1993, reaching a median of 3.7%, according
to the National Association of Electrical Distributors (NAED) in its annual
Performance Analysis Report (PAR).
Home Depot Inc. has agreed to sell its supply
division to three private-equity firms in a roughly $10 billion deal, sources
told Reuters News Agency today.
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