Statistics Canada reported Thursday that consumer spending in retail stores advanced 0.3% in June to $26.4 billion, after a 0.5% gain in May. This news is a nice surprise for investors as they get set to begin the trading day.

All retail sectors posted increases in June, except the automotive sector, where sales declined 1.1%. Excluding sales by motor and recreational vehicle dealers, the largest component of the automotive sector, total retail sales jumped 1.2%. Retailers in the food (+1.9%), other retail stores such as liquor, sporting goods and jewellery (+1.9%) and clothing (+1.0%) sectors enjoyed the largest sales gains. The “other retail” category includes.

There was some good news from the U.S. Labor Department, too. The number of U.S. workers filing first-time applications for unemployment benefits fell unexpectedly last week hitting a six-month low.

Initial jobless claims decreased by 17,000 to 386,000 in the week that ended Aug. 16, says the Labor Department. Some analysts say this number isn’t as positive as it looks, due to last week’s blackout. As a result, Wall Street futures did not jump very much in reaction to the jobless claims numbers.

But the Labor Department statistician says the power outage in the Northeast and Midwest had a minimal effect on the number, because the states responsible for the decline were outside the blackout region.

Later this morning, investors will have two more pieces of economic data to absorb. The U.S. leading indicators numbers are due at 10:00 ET and the Philadelphia Federal Reserve survey of regional manufacturing is also due later today.

In Europe at midday, London’s FTSE 100 is up 0.67%. Paris’s DAX has jumped 1.22% and Paris’s CAC 40 has risen 1.17%.

In Asia, Thursday trading was positive. Tokyo shares climbed for a fourth straight session. The Nikkei advanced 70.63 points, or 0.7%, to 10,362.69.

In Hong Kong, stocks rallied to hit a new high due to buying in property and banking shares. The Hang Seng Index surged 168.3 points, or 1.6%, closing at 10,643.63.

Here in Canada, the biggest corporate news of the day is an announcement from JDS Uniphase. The company is moving its headquarters to San Jose, Calif. from Ottawa. Flamboyant co-founder Jozef Straus is retiring as CEO and co-chairman.

On Wednesday, the S&P/TSX composite index rose 16.16 points to 7,491.07.

The Dow Jones industrial average slipped 31.39 points, to 9,397.51, and the S&P 500 Index fell 2.05 points to 1,000.30. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite ndex fell just 0.57 of a point to 1,760.54.