Notes today:

• Microsoft wins US army contract for augmented reality headsets worth up to $21.9bn. 

• Coke and Delta denounce Georgia voting restrictions - Finally!! 

• Richmond Fed. President Thomas Barkin said he is very “bullish” on the U.S. economy this year and expects household savings accumulated during the COVID-19 pandemic to help fuel growth in 2022 and 2023 as well. “People just have a lot of money in their pockets,” 

• Japan factory output shrank 2.1% from the previous month in February, dragged down by falls in production of cars, electrical machinery. 

• Chinas non-manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) surged to 56.3 from 51.4 in February. 

• President Joe Biden announced a $2.25 trillion infrastructure plan over an 8-year period including $621 billion for transportation and $580 billion for manufacturing. To pay for the plan, Biden proposed to raise the corporate income tax to 28% from 21%..

• On a monthly basis, pending home sales shrank 10.6 percent, the second consecutive month of declines.