U.S. economy still seen growing 1.8 percent in second quarter: Atlanta Fed

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. economy is on track to grow at a 1.8 percent annualized rate in the second quarter, the Atlanta Federal Reserve said on Monday, unchanged from its estimate on Friday. Commerce Department data showing a 0.3 percent increase in construction spending to an 8-1/2 year high in March raised the Atlanta Fed's GDPNow forecast model's projections on second-quarter residential investment growth and nonresidential structures investment growth, the Atlanta Fed said. But an unexpectedly bigger drop in the Institute for Supply Management's U.S. manufacturing index in April led to downgrades in the model's forecasts on equipment investment growth and consumer spending growth, the Atlanta Fed said. (Reporting by Richard Leong; Editing by Paul Simao)