A daily morning look at the financial stories you need to know to start the day.
STOCKS/ECONOMY
-Stock futures are flat as we await the ISM manufacturing data for March and also March auto sales numbers. All the major stock indexes closed out the first quarter of 2017 with strong gains, led by the NASDAQ which was up 12 percent.
OIL/ENERGY
-U.S. crude prices are flat and holding at the $50 a barrel level. Gasoline prices continue their recent upswing with the national average price now at $2.32 a gallon; four cents a gallon more than a week ago today.
TRUMP'S FIRST 100 DAYS
-The Senate Judiciary Committee votes today on whether to advance Judge Neil Gorsuch's Supreme Court nomination to the full Senate. Democrats are vowing to filibuster the vote when that happens. But a third Senate Democrat, Senator Joe Donnelly of Indiana, has just said he will vote for Gorsuch.
