NATION

NATION

Home Depot to repurchase
289.6M shares for $10.7B

ATLANTA — The Home Depot Inc. said Tuesday it expects to repurchase 289.6 million of its shares for $10.7 billion as a result of a tender offer, a little less than halfway towards its goal of buying back $22.5 billion in stock.

Preliminary results of the tender offer that ended Friday indicated the nation’s biggest home improvement store chain expected to repurchase the shares at $37 per share, using about $8 billion in net proceeds from its sale of HD Supply and $2.7 billion in cash, said spokeswoman Paula Drake. Shares of Home Depot fell $1.95, or 5.1 percent, to $36.36 Tuesday.

Contruction drop is
biggest in six months

WASHINGTON — Construction activity plunged in July by the biggest amount in six months as spending on homes fell for a record 17th straight month.

The Commerce Department reported Tuesday that construction spending dropped 0.4 percent in July, compared with June, the weakest showing since a 0.6 percent fall in January. It was a bigger drop than economists had been expecting and underscored the continued drag the severe slump in housing is having on building activity.

Associated Press