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UNDATED (AP) — Asian stocks drifted today with many markets closed for holidays, after a surprisingly weak U.S. employment report. European markets are closed today for Easter Monday. Futures point to weakness as Wall Street opens the week. Benchmark U.S. crude oil rose more than $1.50 to near $51 a barrel. The dollar gained against the yen and weakened against the euro.
WASHINGTON (AP) — As a new trading week kicks off, the Institute for Supply Management will release its service sector index for March. Tomorrow, the Labor Department will release its job openings and labor turnover survey for February in the morning and the Federal Reserve will report consumer credit data for February in the afternoon.
NEW YORK (AP) — Opening day of Major League Baseball has come with a record average salary. Calculations by The Associated Press show the $4.2 million average pay is up 6.3 percent from last year's opening average of $3.95 million and is a 15 percent rise over two years. For teams, The Los Angeles Dodgers set a baseball record with a $270 million opening-day payroll, including nearly $44 million going to players no longer on the team.
WASHINGTON (AP) — International Monetary Fund will be getting its loan to Greece paid back this week. Greece's finance minister confirms his country's plan to make the payment. Greece remains in difficult negotiations with creditors over its bailout program, which has delayed the disbursement of the final 7.2 billion euro ($7.9 billion) aid package. That has led to a cash crunch, forcing the government to tap reserves.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The new movie "Furious 7" burned rubber all the way to box office gold in its opening weekend. The film picked up a stunning $143.6 million from 4,004 locations to easily top the domestic box office, according to Rentrak estimates. The expectation-shattering sum is a studio and franchise best for the homegrown car-obsessed series, which has continued to grow over the past few films. The opening take was at least partially tied to audience interest in star Paul Walker, who died in a car crash in Nov. 2013 before the film was completed.
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