Construction Stocks Mixed Ahead of Transpo Bill Intro

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) plans to introduce a five-year highway and transportation bill that matches funding proposed by Senate Democrates in a similar version of the legislation. Transportation spending is often used by politicians from both parties to jolt job creation and with shoddy infrastructure across the U.S., the Boehner bill has the potential to put folks back to work.

President Obama and congressional Democrats have alleged Boehner and his GOP colleagues have been less than supportive of new job creation. The Boehner package will go up against a the Highway Trust Fund at $54 billion over two years. The House version, at five years, will be “longer and at least as big” in terms of highway funding, the lawmaker said, Transportation Nation reported.

Relevant stocks are mixed on the news. Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE: MLM) and Eagle Materials (NYSE: EXP) are higher on the day while FMC (NYSE: FMC) is down almost 2.5% on weak volume.

Dow component Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT), the world's largest maker of construction and mining equipment, is off by almost 3%. The Industrial Select Sector SPDR (NYSE: XLI), the ETF with the second-largest allocation to Caterpillar, is down by more than 2%.

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