NEW YORK, May 13 (UPI) -- U.S. stock indexes were slightly lower Tuesday, after the Commerce Department said retail activity held its own in April.

The overall index for U.S. retail sales fell 0.2 percent on the month, but gained 2.0 percent over the previous year. But, total sales for February through April were 2.2 percent above a year ago.

The Dow Jones industrial average slid 29.23 points in mid-morning trading Tuesday to 12,847.08, off 0.23 percent. The Standard and Poor's 500 index fell 2.16 points to 1,401.42, off 0.15 percent. The Nasdaq composite index fell 4.07 points to 2,484.42, off 0.16 percent

The 10-year U.S. Treasury note fell 16/32 to yield 3.866 percent.

The euro traded at $1.5453 from Monday's $1.5537 and the dollar traded at 104.48 yen from Monday's 103.94 yen.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei index gained 210.37 points to 13,953.73, up 1.53 percent.

U.S. monthly sales drop marginally

WASHINGTON, May 13 (UPI) -- U.S. retail sales and food services declined slightly in April but gained over the previous year's figures, a government report said Tuesday.

Sales declined 0.2 percent on the month but gained 2 percent from 2007, the U.S. Commerce Department said.

Total sales from February through April came in ahead of expectations with a 2.2 percent gain over a year ago.

Sales at the gas pump soared 16.3 percent from a year ago, while sales at food and beverage stores climbed 5.7 percent.

On the month, motor vehicle and auto parts retailers saw a 2.8 percent decline, while electronics and appliance sales increased 1.4 percent, clothing sales gained 0.7 percent and sporting goods sales rose 0.4 percent, the report said.

Canadian immigrant labor up in 2007

OTTAWA, May 13 (UPI) -- Employment in Canada among immigrants rose by 52,000, or 2.1 percent in 2007 from a year earlier, the Statistics Canada agency reported Tuesday.

Employment for immigrants aged 25 to 54 reached nearly 2.5 million, of which 90 percent was full-time work, the report said.

The vast majority of the immigrant job gains were for women, about 47,000, StatsCan said. More than half of the growth, or 28,000 jobs, were in Quebec, and the majority of growth was among those who had been in Canada for more than 10 years, the release said.

University-educated immigrants had the largest gains in immigrant employment, all in full-time work.

Overall employment rates for Canadian-born residents rose 0.7 percent to 83.8 percent compared with a 0.2 percent gain among immigrants to 77.9 percent employment, the agency said.

U.S. steel beginning to shine again

WASHINGTON, May 13 (UPI) -- Steel prices are riding on a commodity boom, pushed by rising demand in China and other emerging markets, industry analysts say.

China has plans to built 97 new airports by 2020, USA Today reported Tuesday, and Russia, India and other countries are also pouring money into bridges and skyscrapers.

As demand has soared, the price of steel doubled last year to $1,100 per ton.

U.S. steel is in high demand as the weak dollar makes U.S.-produced goods more affordable abroad.

U.S. steel is so attractive in the global marketplace that half the U.S. steel makers are owned by foreign companies, up from 5 percent 10 years ago, said Mark Parr of KeyBanc Capital.

On top of that, a series of Chapter 11 bankruptcies in U.S. steel companies in the 1990s allowed the domestic steel makers to re-emerge as a more effective industry, Sam Halpert, an industry analyst, told USA Today.

The American Iron and Steel Institute said it took 500,000 workers to make 91 million tons of steel in 1970. Last year, 160,000 employees were able to produce 110 million tons.