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Will it be lucky number seven for Wall Street today? We'll see. The stock market logged its sixth straight gain Friday after the government reported a surge in February hiring. The Dow, which has been setting records, rose 67 ½ points to close at 14,397. The S&P 500 rose nearly 7 points to 1,551, just 14 points below its own record. The Nasdaq composite rose 12 points. Futures trading suggests losses this morning.
- A strong U.S. jobs report helped propel Asian stock markets higher today but shares in Europe were weighed down by renewed worries about the region's struggling economies. Benchmark crude oil fell, remaining below $92 per barrel. The dollar fell against the euro but rose against the yen.
- There are no major economic reports today but on Tuesday, the Labor Department releases its job openings and labor turnover survey for January and Treasury reports the federal budget for February. Also, a Senate banking panel holds a hearing on the nominations of Richard Cordray to lead the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection and Mary Jo White to head the Securities and Exchange Commission.
- Two years after the nuclear crisis in Japan, the top U.S. regulator says American nuclear power plants are safer than ever, though not trouble-free. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Allison Macfarlane says all but five of the nation's 104 nuclear reactors were performing at acceptable safety levels last year. The Union of Concerned Scientists issued a scathing report saying nearly one in six U.S. nuclear reactors experienced safety breaches last year, due in part to weak oversight.
- A top European Union official says he plans to propose that company shareholders across the continent be given the power to set managers' pay - an approach similar to an initiative recently approved by voters in non-EU Switzerland. EU internal market commissioner Michel Barnier was quoted Sunday as telling a German newspaper he plans to make his proposal by the end of this year.
