(Makor) weekly risk arb summary and trading recommendations

Summary & current trading recommendations April 7, 2014 FULL REPORT ATTACHED Newnews Asia: 917 HK: As more time is required to accommodate the timetable of the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands, the HK Securities and Futures Commission has granted an extension to the time limit for dispatching the Scheme Document from 3 April 2014 to 19 May 2014. We extend the expected closing from the end of June to the 12 July Long Stop Date. The NWD Circular to be issued simultaneously with the Scheme Document.

SL SP: The largest minority shareholder, Silchester said in a statement that UI's offer is not "full and fair". Silchester said that the independent financial adviser only evaluated the financial terms of the offer and "No attempt has been made to look at the underlying business and evaluate its commercial opportunities". Europe: CU LBO: The Paris Court of Appeal will decide on the complaints of hedge fund CIAM and shareholder association ADAM on 29 Apr. Regardless of the Court's decision, the current offer has no chance of succeeding as several activist shareholders have acquired significant stakes in CU and it is trading well above the offer price. We see a 50% chance of a new offer with a bump to EUR 19 and a 30% chance of the EUR 23 medium fair value. We recommend buying CU and change the expected closing from the end of June to mid-August.

ZIGGO NA: Joaquin Almunia, the EU's antitrust commissioner, says the deal was notified to EU and that the EU will review it. He also said that he was 'surprised' by Dutch regulator's bid to review the deal

FCAM LN: The OFT provisional deadline is set for 9 May 2014

SCVB SS: A positive development this week as VW signing an agreement with the trade unions of Scania in relation to retaining jobs and the head office. Another development was, AMF, AMF Fonder rejecting the bid. AMF said that VW's offer does not reflect long-term value of Scania. AMF, AMF Fonder held 0.8% of Scania's share capital, 0.3% of voting rights as of Feb. 28.

POH1S FH: Offer closed with acceptance level exceeding 94% of the voting rights.

U.S. / Canada: OSK-G: To thwart G's bid, OSK and YRI entered a partnership on Apr. 2 giving YRI a 50% interest in OSK's assets. It is subject to an affirmative vote of two-thirds of OSK shareholders at the May 20 EGM. We see an 85% chance of the agreement completing. G started conducting due diligence on OSK on Apr. 1 and has extended its hostile offer to Apr. 15, so there is still a 10% chance of a bump.

CSE US: CSE announced that it has received regulatory approval from the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and that the merger will close on Monday, April 7, 2014 at the close of business.

Latam: No news.

DEALS OF THE WEEK

RDA; AMAP; 917 HK; CU FP; ZIGGO NA; SPTT CP; MEO1V FH; TWC; BISA3 BZ; ALLL3 BZ; BICB4 BZ

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WSJ : Vivendi Chooses Altice Offer for SFR Subsidiary

Vivendi Chooses Altice Offer for SFR Subsidiary Patrick Drahi Trumps Bouygues in Battle for Phone Unit

PARIS—Cable tycoon Patrick Drahi Saturday trumped rival Bouygues SA in the battle for SFR as Vivendi SA's board voted in favor of selling its phone unit to Altice SA, ending a month-long feisty bidding war between two very keen suitors.

Vivendi said its board unanimously voted for a bid from Altice that includes 13.5 billion euros ($18.5 billion) in cash when the deal closes, plus a potential further payout of EUR750 million. Vivendi would also hold a 20% stake in a new group formed by merging Altice's French cable operator Numericable Group SA NUM.FR -5.25% with SFR, with the option to exit the stake at a later stage.

The board's decision comes after an intense bidding war, which culminated Friday, when Bouygues submitted a final sweetened offer ahead of the crucial board meeting that stretched from Friday into Saturday.

Vivendi has sought to shed its telecoms assets for the past two years in a bid to refashion itself as a media and content business. The group initially planned a spinoff of the unit--which accounts for close to half of its sales--but then attracted bids from Bouygues on top of Mr. Drahi, who has chased SFR for several years.

Vivendi three weeks ago entered into exclusive talks with Altice but Bouygues since came back with new offers in a bid to squeeze out Altice.

Vivendi said it has "attentively" examined all offers, including those from Bouygues, but decided that Altice's proposal offers the best potential to create value for shareholders, employees and clients.

The proposed deal to merge Altice's Numericable with SFR is still subject to the approval from relevant antitrust bodies and consultation with employee representatives.

FT : Altice to buy French telecom operator SFR

Altice to buy French telecom operator SFR

European cable group Altice has emerged victorious in its battle with Bouygues to buy France’s second-biggest telecom operator SFR in a €17bn deal that will recast the country’s telecoms landscape. Altice, which intends to merge SFR with Numericable, its French subsidiary, will pay Vivendi €14.25bn in cash and a 20 per cent stake in the resulting company to be sold later, according to an announcement by Vivendi on Saturday. Vivendi turned down a thrice-enhanced and French government backed rival offer from construction and telecoms conglomerate Bouygues, which has more cash upfront but a lower stake in the overall company. "Vivendi has made the best choice with a balance between cash received immediately and the equity stake entitling the group to receive the highest total valuation," said Vivendi, adding that the whole offer would be worth €17bn. The decisions is a blow for Bouygues, the country’s third-largest mobile provider, which has suffered at the hands of increased competition since low-cost Free came to the market two years ago with ultra-low offers. A Bouygues victory would have created the country’s largest carrier with an estimated 42 per cent of the market and possibly spelt the end of a two-year price war that has forced operators into making deep cost cuts. Vivendi came under significant government pressure to accept the Bouygues offer, with Arnaud Montebourg, France’s industry minister, openly supporting the rival offer and criticising the Altice bid, saying that it posed "problems". Mr Montebourg has been worried about the impact on jobs and investment that the price war has created in the sector, hoping that consolidation would help turn back the tide. But for Vivendi the Bouygues offer, sweetened at the last minute on Friday, raised concerns that it would be held up by competition authorities, given the similarities between the two companies as the second and third largest operators. "All experts consulted concluded that the bid by Altice/Numericable presents the lowest competition risk. SFR and Numericable are not present on the same market segments and their activities are complementary," said the board statement. The tie-up gives Numericable, which is backed by billionaire Patrick Drahi, the chance to offer its cable and broadband services to SFR’s roughly 22m mobile subscribers, and leaves Bouygues in a difficult position. The deal is just one of a number of blockbuster transactions in France this year as groups look for new ways to grown amid a sluggish French market. On Friday Lafarge and Holcim said they were in talks to create a $40bn global cement giant. They follow Peugeot’s €3bn capital-raising effort that will see Chinese automaker Dongfeng become a large shareholder alongside the French state, as part of the group’s plan to expand in the Asian markets. The Vivendi deal will see Altice make a first payment of €13.5bn, a separate €750m payment and then the option for Vivendi to own and then sell a 20 per cent stake in the new entity, according to Vivendi.

Vivendi Accepts Altice’s EU13.5 Billion Offer for SFR Phone Unit

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Vivendi Accepts Altice’s EU13.5 Billion Offer for SFR Phone Unit 2014-04-05 13:46:00.172 GMT

By Gregory Viscusi April 5 (Bloomberg) -- Vivendi SA accepts Altice’s offer for its SFR mobile phone unit in a sale that could eventually be worth EU17b, the French co. says in an e-mailed statement. * Vivendi to receive EU13.5b at closing, with an eventual further payment of EU750m, and the right to later sell its residual 20% stake in the unit: Vivendi * “At the end of deep discussions, the board decided unanimously to accept the offer from Altice/Numericable which was the industrial project most likely to bring growth, to create value for clients, employees, and shareholders, and responds best to Vivendi’s objectives,” Vivendi said in statement today * NOTE: Vivendi also received competing offer from Bouygues * NOTE: Vivendi to Discuss SFR Offers NSN N3ISWR6K50YC <GO>

Link to Company News:EN FP <Equity> CN <GO> Link to Company News:VIV FP <Equity> CN <GO>

For Related News and Information: First Word scrolling panel: FIRST<GO> First Word newswire: NH BFW<GO>

To contact the reporter on this story: Gregory Viscusi in Paris at +33-1-5365-5068 or gviscusi@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: James Hertling at +33-1-5365-5075 or jhertling@bloomberg.net Mike Harrison

*VIVENDI ACCEPTS ALTICE SA OFFER FOR SFR PHONE UNIT

+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

BN 04/05 13:33 *VIVENDI ACCEPTS ALTICE SA OFFER FOR SFR PHONE UNIT BN 04/05 13:27 *VIVENDI COMMENTS IN E-MAILED STATEMENT BN 04/05 13:27 *VIVENDI SAYS ACCEPTS ALTICE OFFER FOR SFR

+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

*VIVENDI ACCEPTS ALTICE SA OFFER FOR SFR PHONE UNIT 2014-04-05 13:34:42.22 GMT

--CHRIS MALPASS

-0- Apr/05/2014 13:34 GMT

RTR - Minnesota patient has W. African virus, search on for

Minnesota patient has W. African virus, search on for others exposed

April 4 (Reuters) - A traveler who flew back to the United States from West Africa was diagnosed with the rare and sometimes deadly Lassa fever, said health authorities who on Friday were trying to identify others on the plane who may have been exposed.

In the first Lassa case in the United States in four years, an unnamed patient was admitted to a Minnesota hospital on Monday suffering from fever and confusion, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a statement.

Blood samples sent to CDC tested positive for Lassa fever on Thursday.

The patient was recovering and in stable condition on Friday, the CDC said.

While the likelihood of human-to-human transmission of the virus is "considered extremely low," the CDC was reaching out to airlines to identify passengers and crew who had close contact with the infected individual. Once found, the people will be notified by state and local health departments.

"People will not get this infection just because they were on the same airplane or in the same airport," said CDC epidemiologist Barbara Knust in the statement. "Casual contact is not a risk factor for getting Lassa fever."

Lassa fever is a severe viral disease common in West Africa but rarely seen in the United States.

In West Africa, as many as 300,000 cases of Lassa fever are reported every year, with about 5,000 ending in death, the CDC said. The virus is carried by rodents and transmitted to humans through contact with urine or feces.

The last U.S. case was reported in Pennsylvania in 2010, the statement said. Previously, seven other cases, all travel related, were identified in the United States.

"This imported case is a reminder that we are all connected by international travel. A disease anywhere can appear anywhere else in the world within hours," CDC Director Tom Frieden said in a statement.

While Lassa fever can cause hemorrhagic symptoms in infected individuals, it is not related to the Ebola virus, which recently resurged in West Africa, the CDC said.

Fwd: WSJ : Apple Considered Firing Longtime Ad Agency TBWA

If true this Will be a very bad news for Publicis Omnicom as TBWA is part of Omnicom Group since 1993

Apple Considered Firing Longtime Ad Agency TBWA Patent Trial Reveals How Samsung's Advertisements Frustrated the iPhone Maker

As Samsung Electronics Co. 005930.SE -0.72% started to score points last year with an advertising campaign lampooning buyers of Apple Inc. AAPL -1.29% products, Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller considered firing the company's longtime advertising agency, TBWA\Media Arts Lab.

Mr. Schiller's emails were revealed during a trial over Apple and Samsung's patent dispute in U.S. District Court in San Jose, Calif. Samsung presented the emails as evidence that its phones have succeeded because of innovative features and clever marketing, not because they copied Apple's ideas.

In an early 2013 email to Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook, Mr. Schiller, the company's senior vice president of global marketing, wrote that Apple "may need to start a search for a new agency." He added, "we are not getting what we need from them and haven't been for a while."

At the time, Samsung was knocking Apple in a series of commercials with the slogan—"The Next Big Thing Is Already Here"—that poked fun at Apple users and showed features of Samsung phones not available in the iPhone.

A Samsung television commercial pokes fun at Apple's iPhone. Samsung In January 2013, The Wall Street Journal published an article headlined, "Has Apple Lost Its Cool to Samsung?" Mr. Schiller forwarded the article to James Vincent, Media Labs' account lead for Apple with the additional note: "We have a lot of work to do to turn this around."

Mr. Vincent replied that he believed Apple's brand was slipping and that there were parallels to 1997 when Steve Jobs returned to Apple as it teetered near bankruptcy.

Mr. Schiller wrote back that he was "shocked" by Mr. Vincent's assessment and that Apple's position was totally different from 1997. Mr. Vincent apologized for his comments in subsequent email.

The exchange is surprising because Apple and Media Arts Lab have a long-standing and successful relationship. They created the famous "1984" Super Bowl ad that introduced the Macintosh personal computer. When Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1997, Apple and Media Labs created the "Think Different" campaign to reestablish the company as an edgy and unique brand.

Mr. Schiller said Friday that Media Labs is still Apple's advertising agency. A spokeswoman for TBWA, which is a unit of Omnicom Group, OMC -0.39% declined to comment.

Apple is one of TBWA's largest clients by revenue, according to a person familiar with the matter. Roughly 250 people work on the account, this person said.

In court Friday, Mr. Schiller said it isn't uncommon for him to be vocal about his dissatisfaction with Apple's advertising agency.

Samsung's lawyers also showed another pointed exchange between Messrs. Schiller and Vincent about Samsung's 2013 Super Bowl commercials. Mr. Schiller compared Samsung to "an athlete who can't miss because they are in a zone while we struggle to make a compelling brief. …Something drastic has to change."

Later that year, Apple and Media Labs launched a branding campaign—focused on promoting the company's brand as opposed to a specific product—called "Designed by Apple in California." It was the first new campaign in 16 years, since "Think Different."

Samsung's lawyers also showed how Apple's own employees had identified phone features that consumers wanted that Apple didn't have, like a larger screen and a price below $300, without a contract. In an off-site sales meeting, an Apple employee prepared a presentation slide titled: "Consumers Want What We Don't Have."

Mr. Schiller dismissed the slide as one person's view. "I don't agree with this chart, and it's completely misleading and wrong," he said in court.

>>> Weekly Update : Fed and ECB appear on course but markets left asking for dir

Weekly Market Update: Fed and ECB appear on course but markets left asking for directions


- Three great hopes helped put a bid under global equity markets in the first half of the week: hope for Chinese stimulus, ECB action and a monster US March jobs report. However in each case, disappointment was the main outcome. In China, the government unveiled a "targeted mini stimulus" with no price tag that rehashed investment priorities laid out by Beijing earlier this year. The ECB took no action at its monthly policy meeting on Thursday, and President Draghi repeated all of his familiar talking points. Draghi asserted that inflation would turn around of its own accord in coming months, although he did begin talking about the theoretical possibility of a quantitative easing program for the Eurozone if it can't. In the US, the March jobs report was good but not great, with NFPs slightly higher but other weak job trends also still in place. The trade data was sluggish with lower overseas demand weighing on US exports; leading economists to downgrade their outlooks for Q1 growth. In Japan, the government officially raised the sales tax from 5% to 8%, while weak Tankan survey data suggested that Abenomics is facing headwinds. Government bond markets remained firm helped by a confluence lackluster economic data, the belief that key central banks will stay with accommodative policies longer and asset allocation flows away from high beta momentum stocks. The US 10-year yield ended up little changed on the week finishing back below 2.75%. For the week, the DJIA rose 0.6%, the S&P500 added 0.4% and the Nasdaq fell 0.7%.

- Coming into the March jobs reports, there was a general feeling that the numbers would outperform expectations. This did not come to pass and both the +192K NFP and +192K private payrolls were a hair below expectations. However the February NFP was revised to +197K from +175K, putting the average monthly growth over the past three months at a healthy +178k. Many analysts were concerned about the flat hourly earnings component (they grew 0.4% in February) and the continuing weakness in underemployment. Both issues were cited by Yellen at her post-FOMC decision press conference as reasons for rates to remain low for an extended period.

- In the first half of the week, Brent crude fell to its lowest level since last November thanks to pressure from the prospect of Libyan oil returning to the market. Libya's eastern oil ports were seized by rebel groups demanding more political rights and a cut of the nation's oil revenue. Negotiations with the protesters have gone well and the two sides are close to reaching a deal which will reopen the oilfields and increase exports to 600K bpd from the current 150K bpd. Libya would still be operating below its 1.4 million bpd capacity, however the increase would have a significant impact on markets. Brent traded below $105 on Wednesday, with but climbed higher through week's end on fears the deal might fall apart.

- There was some calming of geopolitical tensions early in the week on reports that Russia had withdrawn some of the military assets from its border with Ukraine. Russia President Putin told German Chancellor Merkel that he had ordered a partial withdrawal of Russian forces from the border area. This news was disputed by western military figures, including US Defense Sec Hagel and NATO Chief Rasmussen. On Friday there were reports that the Pentagon was looking at the possibility of sending two combat brigades to the Eastern European NATO allies, most likely Poland.

- The "momentum stocks" got hammered again, particularly late in the week. Declines in high-profile tech names, selected biotechs and frothy recent IPOs drove the Nasdaq down nearly 3% on Friday alone, undercutting overall risk appetite. Tesla and Facebook both lost 8% a piece on Thursday and Friday, Netflix dropped as much as 6% at its worst on the two days and Amazon lost as much as 5%. Smaller tech names had an even worse time: recent IPO FireEye sank as much as 20% in the Wednesday-to-Friday period, while Splunk and Palo Alto Networks dropped 14% a piece over the same period.

- Auto sales in January and February were sluggish and the major manufacturers claimed that intense winter weather had kept traffic away from dealerships. The March data out this week seems to confirm the industry's excuses, as industry SAAR surged to 16.4M units, beating last year's 15.3 million mark. Analysts highlight that the industry increased incentives to lure more traffic. Fiat's Chrysler posted the largest sales increase, +13% y/y, the firm's best March since 2007. Jeep and Ram truck brands saw sales increases of 47% and 26%, respectively, making for Jeep's best sales month of all time. GM's sales were up 4%, although bad press from CEO Mary Barra's hammering on Capitol Hill over the ignition parts scandal obscured the firm's results. Ford sales were up 3%. Toyota March sales grew 4.9%, while Nissan sales grew 8.3%.

- At the post-rate decision ECB press conference, Super Mario stayed pretty close to all of his regular talking points regarding inflation and the scope for more action. Draghi conceded that the council did discuss potential rate cuts and the merits of a QE program (as well as lower rates and a negative deposit rate), but on inflation he doggedly repeated that while the March Eurozone inflation report was a surprise, the ECB still expects higher inflation in the months to come. Draghi claimed that seasonal factors, including the late Easter holiday, distorted March inflation levels, and asserted that approximately 70% of the fall-off in inflation was due to lower food and energy prices. He also highlighted that core inflation remains higher than headline CPI. Draghi's right-hand man, Governor Constancio, said low March inflation figures will correct in April. EUR/USD poked above 1.3800 a few times mid week, but the euro downtrend remains firmly in place and the pair closed the week just above 1.3700.

- Reports out this week suggested that Greece would return to the international bond market this month, four years after it became the first eurozone country to be bailed out. The country has made progress in fixing the nation's economy, and while the nation closed out its sixth year of recession in 2013, with Q4 GDP -2.6%, this was the best reading seen in years. The government aims to raise €2 billion in a sale of five-year bonds in April, with Deutsche Bank, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs reportedly lined up as underwriters. Last month, Piraeus Bank sold €500 million in three-year bonds, and the sale garnered more €3 billion in orders. Other European peripheral bond markets performed well on hopes the ECB could ultimately chose to go down the path of QE. The Spanish 5-year yield fell below that of the US for the first time since 2007 and Portugal rates fell markedly too.

- Disappointing industrial production and consumer spending data raised hopes that China would launch some form of stimulus to cope with flagging growth. Early in the week, the March official manufacturing PMI was just about equal to the February reading, which itself was at eight-month lows. On Wednesday, Beijing announced a spending package focused on new railways and subways, low-income housing and tax breaks for small business. The government notably did not say how much it intends to pay for the package of targeted measures and analysts highlight that most measures were much the same as priorities mapped out at last month's central economic work conference. In addition, banks were tapped to "actively participate" in funding the projects highlighted by the plan. USD/CNY seems to have settled right in to a 6.20-6.21 range.

- The picture seen in the BoJ's first quarter Tankan survey was not terribly bright: Japanese business sentiment barely improved in the three months ending March and the corporate outlook is now considerably weaker than when Japan last raised its sales tax in 1997. The outlook for the next quarter suggests a notable slowdown. The survey revealed diminishing expectations of the economy being able to achieve the 2% inflation target, noting that firms of all sizes see CPI at 1.5% in one year and just 1.7% in five years. The BoJ meets next week but few expect any stimulus from the bank in the near term, as economist expect several months of data will be needed to gauge the impact of the sales tax hike. In the wake of the survey, Nomura economists forecasted more BoJ policy easing in July. USD/JPY ramped up to nine-week highs on Thursday and made a few runs above 104, but the risk-off tone on Friday drove the pair back down to 103.3.

>>> VIX closed @ 13,96 +4,4%

The VIX isn’t calling it quits just yet.

The CBOE Volatility Index, known as the market’s fear gauge, fell to 2 1/2-month lows early Friday, but now has shot higher as the stock market swoons.

The so-called VIX advanced 5.7% to 14.40, on pace for its biggest one-day gain since March 26, when it shot up 6.5%. The S&P 500 is down 1.2% to 1867.

The VIX, which measures prices traders are willing to pay for options portfolio insurance, earlier dropped as much as 5.8% to 12.60, breaking under 13 for the first time since late January.

>>> US Close Dow-0,96% S&P-1,25% NAsdaq-2,60%

Closing Market Summary: Nasdaq Posts Weekly Loss While Dow and S&P 500 Outperform

The stock market finished the week on a lower note after equity indices spent the entire session in a steady decline from their opening highs. The Nasdaq led the retreat, falling 2.6%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (-1.0%) and S&P 500 (-1.3%) registered smaller losses.

Even though the major averages endured a daylong retreat, only the Nasdaq ended down for the week (-0.7%) while the Dow and S&P 500 posted respective weekly gains of 0.6% and 0.4%.

Prior to the open, the Nonfarm Payrolls report pointed to the addition of 192,000 jobs in March, while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of 195,000. After the report crossed the wires, equity futures spiked, but so did gold (+1.5% to 1303.40/ozt) and Treasuries (10-yr yield -7 bps to 2.73%), which was inconsistent with the risk-on disposition observed in equity futures. Furthermore, the dollar/yen pair spiked initially (yen weakness), but gave it all back, and then some, in short order.

The dollar/yen pair hovered near 103.90 and spiked above 104.10 in reaction to the data, before spending the remainder of the session in a retreat that mirrored the price action in the S&P 500. The Japanese yen finished the session near its high with the dollar/yen pair sliding to 103.25 by the New York close.

With cautious action in most other markets, the upbeat sentiment in the stock market dissipated quickly. The Nasdaq led the retreat as heavy selling pressure weighed on biotechnology and other momentum names.

The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 225.30, -9.41) lost 4.0% after being unable to retake its 100-day moving average at the open (238.35). The ETF surrendered its entire 2014 gain, while the broader health care sector (-1.5%) ended behind the broader market.

Most other heavily-weighted groups did not fare much better. Consumer discretionary (-1.7%) and technology (-2.2%) lagged throughout the session, while financials (-1.2%) outperformed.

Notably, the discretionary sector was pressured by continued weakness in names like Amazon.com (AMZN 323.00, -10.62), Netflix (NFLX 337.31, -17.38), and Priceline.com (PCLN 1178.08, -59.37). Homebuilders, meanwhile, fared relatively well with the iShares Dow Jones US Home Construction ETF (ITB 24.59, -0.12) shedding 0.5%.

Elsewhere, the largest S&P 500 sector, technology, proved to be a significant drag on the major averages amid weakness in large names. Apple (AAPL 531.82, -6.97), Google (GOOG 543.14, -26.60), Microsoft (MSFT 39.87, -1.14), and Visa (V 207.70, -7.31) lost between 1.3% and 4.7% with Google seeing the largest decline of the bunch. Smaller momentum names registered even larger losses with FireEye (FEYE 50.36, -4.50), Splunk (SPLK 62.68, -3.68), and Yelp (YELP 65.76, -4.85) down between 5.6% and 8.2%. The three names extended their weekly losses to 20.7%, 12.0%, and 14.1%, respectively.

On the upside, utilities (+0.6%) posted a solid gain with lower yields giving a boost to the rate-sensitive sector.

The selloff invited above average participation as 764 million shares changed hands at the NYSE floor.

Looking closer at today's jobs report:
Overall, the employment data was fairly solid, but nothing to really get excited about. The initial claims data over the past several weeks supported payroll growth in the neighborhood of 200,000. That was exactly what happened in March.
Total nonfarm private payrolls also increased by 192,000 jobs in March, up from 188,000 in February. The consensus expected these payrolls to increase by 205,000.
Winter weather, which was blamed for prior weaknesses, again did not show up in the payroll numbers. Construction employment increased by 19,000 in March, which was only a marginal improvement over the 18,000 added in February. Had winter weather conditions really impacted the economy, construction payrolls would have spiked in March as employment recovered from winter delays.
The one area that winter weather did impact was the number of hours worked. The average workweek fell to 34.3 in February as weather conditions prevented employees from working their normal hours. As temperatures and conditions returned to normal, the average workweek jumped to 34.5.
Average hourly earnings were essentially flat in March after increasing 0.4% in February.
The unemployment rate remained at 6.7% in March while the consensus expected the rate to tick down to 6.6%.
Monday's data will be limited to the February Consumer Credit report, which will be released at 15:00 ET.

S&P 500 +0.9% YTD
Russell 2000 -0.8% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average -1.0% YTD
Nasdaq Composite -1.2% YTD