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The trading day had a calm tone one day after record oil prices caused a sell-off for the stock market. The Dow rose 52 points. The S&P 500 gained 5 and the Nasdaq: 12. Stocks were lifted by encouraging signals from the consumer. On a whole, April same-store sales figures were better than expected. Discount retailers like Wal-Mart and teen-oriented shopkeepers led the way. But Wal-Mart rival Target posted results that were below forecasts. Shares of Wal-Mart were up, but Costco and Target finished lower. Mining companies like Alcoa are expected to benefit from the spike in global metal prices. That pushed shares of Alcoa up 4.1 percent. A bullish call on the technology sector was a market positive. Shares of Apple rose over a percent. And jobless claims added to the positive tone. State unemployment lines were shorter-than-expected last week - lending hope the jobs market is not seeing a sharp slowdown. Investors still kept a wary eye on oil prices. Crude settled the regular session at $123.69 a barrel - its fourth consecutive record close. But in after hours electronic trading the price spiked above $124 for the first time - suggesting still higher prices. Rice trading in Chicago was frantic after Malaysia made a big purchase and cyclone-ravaged Myanmar heightened supply concerns. US rice futures jumped 75 cents to more than $22. In Europe, focus was on interest rate policy as both the Bank of England and the European Central Bank held rates steady. That gave the euro a bounce against the dollar. As for the bourses....it was a day of very small moves. Conway Gittens, Reuters COMPANIES MENTIONED: Wal-Mart, Costco, Target, Alcoa, Apple SYMBOLS: WMT, COST, TGT, AA, AAPL