Construction spending hits record high in July

Construction spending sprang back to life in July, rising to the highest level on record, the government reported Wednesday.

The rebound, which came after a June lull, meant that the value of buildings put in place clocked in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $997.2 billion, an all-time high, the Commerce Department said. That represented a 0.4 percent increase over June’s level.

Gains for July were widespread, with spending by private builders on residential units and spending by government on big public works projects each coming in at all-time highs in dollar terms.

Above, Mark Robinson, of Ceco Construction, does prep work for wet concrete pouring last week near Olympia, Wash. The company is building the Red Wind Casino’s new four-story parking garage.

Energy

Supply concerns boost oil prices to $44 a barrel

Oil prices bounced nearly $2 higher to $44 a barrel Wednesday after government and industry data showed a sharp drop last week in the U.S. domestic supply — a surprise to most traders, who expected inventories to be steady or grow slightly.

Analysts had been expecting for several days, however, to see some kind of a correction in oil markets, where prices had retreated by nearly $7 from the peak settlement of $48.70 reached Aug. 19.

The catalyst arrived Wednesday when the Energy Department reported that commercial inventories of crude fell by 4.2 million barrels to 287.1 million barrels last week.

Auto industry

GM, Ford report drop in sales, production cut

General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. reported disappointing U.S. sales Wednesday, prompting the nation’s two largest automakers to cut planned vehicle production in the fourth quarter, which could hurt profits.

Meanwhile, the top two Japanese automakers had uncharacteristically underwhelming months. Toyota Motor Corp. saw sales slip nearly 3 percent, while Honda Motor Co.’s business was off 7.1 percent.

The sluggishness, however, wasn’t felt among all major carmakers reporting August results. The Chrysler Group, the smallest of Detroit’s Big Three, said sales rose slightly. Nissan Motor Co., Suzuki Motor Corp., BMW Group and Volvo Cars of North America were among the foreign brands posting sizable sales increases.

Pharmaceutical

GlaxoSmithKline posts trials of diabetes drug

GlaxoSmithKline PLC has taken a first step toward fulfilling a promise to disclose the results of every drug trial it sponsors by posting summaries on the Internet.

The pharmaceutical company on Wednesday said it had posted summaries of dozens of clinical trials concerning the diabetes medication rosiglitazone in its new online registry. Glaxo sells the drug under the brand name Avandia.