U.S. Commerce Department and American Markets

Dow Jones industrial average: On the commodity markets, the July crude contract closed down 66 cents at US$60.77 a barrel, while the August gold contract fell $6.20 to US$1,180.40 an ounce, according to The Toronto Star. American markets were modestly higher after major gains Wednesday that saw the widely watched Dow Jones industrial average shoot up more than 230 points. The S&P/TSX composite index closed down 58.16 points at 14,830.88, while the loonie retreated 0.08 of a U.S. cent to 81.47 cents. Enthusiasm in New York was helped by a report from the U.S. Commerce Department showing shoppers returned to stores in a big way in May, with retail sales rising a seasonally adjusted 1.2 per cent last month after a 0.2 per cent gain in April. I think the main data point for the day globally was basically U.S. consumer sales, retail sales, said Patrick Blais, senior portfolio manager at Manulife Asset Management. The Dow added 38.97 points to 18,039.37, while the Nasdaq advanced 5.82 points to 5,082.51 and the S&P 500 gained 3.66 points to 2,108.86. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.