U.S. markets edge up Thursday morning
NEW YORK, June 5 (UPI) -- U.S. markets rose Thursday in New York after a report that same-store retail sales posted better than expected results last month.
Wal-Mart Stores said customer spending could be tracked to income tax rebate checks, while discount stores are doing well in a pinched economy, The Wall Street Journal reported.
In late-morning trading Thursday, the Dow Jones industrial average gained 132.39 or 1.07 percent to 12,522.87. The Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 16.24 or 1.18 percent to 1,393.44. The Nasdaq composite index gained 33.31 or 1.33 percent to 2,536.45.
The 10-year U.S. Treasury note fell 10/32 to yield 4.03 percent.
The dollar was mixed. The euro traded at $1.5533 from Wednesday's $1.5435, while the dollar traded at 106.12 yen from Wednesday's 105.22 yen.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei index lost 94.40 points to 14,341.12, off 0.65 percent.
Hallmark shuts Toronto site, 195 laid off
TORONTO, June 5 (UPI) -- Hallmark Cards Canada is closing its Toronto facility and laying off 195 employees along with 140 others at two U.S. facilities, the company said.
Workers on both shifts were summoned Wednesday morning for a meeting and management broke the news with a video, the Toronto Star reported.
"I don't think there's a card for that," an ex-employee who didn't want to be identified told the Star.
The video featuring David Hall, president of Hallmark Cards' North American operations, said the downsizing was due to an overcapacity in manufacturing, and included 80 workers at Hallmark's DaySpring Christian greeting cards subsidiary in Siloam Springs, Ark., and 60 at its Sunrise Greetings arm in Bloomington, Ind.
Most of the work and equipment will be transferred to Hallmark's manufacturing plants in Topeka and Lawrence, Kan., the company said.
Foreign interest in CSX sparks alarm
WASHINGTON, June 5 (UPI) -- A foreign investment group's attempt to win five seats on U.S. rail company CSX's 12-member board has sparked alarm in Washington, sources said.
The Defense Department said it initiated an "internal assessment" of the investment firm, The Children's Investment Fund, based in London.
"We welcome investment in this country. But we have to make sure these are economic investments and not politically motivated." said Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., one of a group of senators who alerted the Treasury Department of their concerns.
The Treasury Department is reviewing the senators' letter, a spokeswoman said.
"They are anonymous and invisible to government regulators," the letter addressed to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson says.
Snehal Amin, a founding partner of TCI, called the investigation of the investment group "scare-mongering," USA Today reported.
The rail company, CSX, is deemed critical as it serves U.S. military bases and transports nuclear material, the paper reported.
Canada offers GM cash to keep plant open
OSHAWA, Ontario, June 5 (UPI) -- Canada's Conservative government offered General Motors millions of dollars in a bid to prevent the 2009 closure of its plant in Oshawa, Ontario.
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty late Wednesday said in Ottawa the government had created a $250 million Automotive Innovation Fund and GM was welcome to tap into it to avoid laying off 2,600 workers, the Globe and Mail reported.
"The money is available," Flaherty told reporters. "The key is to work with the union, work with the company to see what's necessary in terms of technological innovation."
There was no immediate response from the company or union.
Tuesday, the carmaker announced the closure of the Canadian plant, two in the United States and one in Mexico.
Meanwhile, protesters remained outside GM Canada corporate headquarters in Oshawa, where they set up a barricade a day earlier, reports said.
Last month, GM announced it was closing its transmission plant in Windsor, Ontario, in 2010, putting 1,400 people out of work.
