Wall Street makes modest gains

NEW YORK: Wall Street shares ended with modest gains Thursday as data showing a rise in US retail sales and lower unemployment claims helped soothe fears of rising oil prices and interest rates.

The market also saw an easing of bond market tensions after strong demand in a Treasury auction, helping the Dow Jones Industrial Average gain 31.90 points (0.37 per cent) to close at 8,770.92.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq added 9.29 points (0.50 per cent) to 1,862.37 and the Standard & Poor’s 500 index increased 5.74 points (0.61 per cent) to 944.89. The market reacted to news that US retail sales rose in May for the first time in three months, although much of the gains came from higher gasoline prices.

A separate report showed new claims for US unemployment benefits fell last week for the fourth consecutive week. “The recovery is on the way, though as the song says, ’if only (we) can wait,’” said Joel Naroff at Naroff Economic Advisors.

Naroff said the retail report “is good on its surface and the details are not that bad either. I don’t think anyone expects people to start spending lots of money on everything. But they have started dipping their toes back into the shopping waters and that is a positive development.”

He added that the unemployment report showed “we are making no progress on getting people off the unemployment rolls as continuing claims keeps rising ... Overall, today’s reports keep up the trend of data that point to a slowing in the recession.” -- AFP