Quick Overview

• Construction spending rose 0.8% in February to a record high level, the Commerce Department reported Monday.
  
  

• The Institute for Supply Management said Monday its index of U.S. manufacturing fell from 56.7 to 55.2 in March, following an increase in February.
  
  

• Reuters estimates that S&P 500 earnings increased 11% in the first quarter of 2006.
  
  

• Japan's Tankan survey of manufacturer sentiment fell from 21 to 20.
  

• Japan's unemployment rate fell from 4.5% to 4.1% in February.
  

• An index of manufacturing activity in the U.K. fell from 51.5 to 50.8 in March.
  

• Europe's manufacturing index rose from 54.5 to 56.1 in March, the best in over five.
  

• The tiny biodiesel industry received a boost from Big Oil on Monday when a major petroleum refiner, Motiva Enterprises LLC, began blending the soy-based alternative with traditional motor fuel at a Dallas terminal