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Trading volume was thin on Wall Street after the Christmas break...with stocks remaining relatively flat for the day. By the end of trading the Dow added on two points, the S&P 500 just a point, and the Nasdaq, the biggest winner picking up ten. Amazon was key in lifting the Nasdaq. The online retailer got a boost after it said that the 2007 holiday season was its strongest ever. The company's stock has more than doubled this year. By the close the retailer gained 2 percent. But overall retail, at least of the brick and mortar kind was the sector that was dealt a blow for the day. Despite comments about boosted shopping in the later weeks of this month, discount retailer Target said they expect lower same-store sales for the month of December. The retailer blamed the sluggish outlook on slow sales post-Thanksgiving. By the end of trade Target was down 2.5 percent. That kicked up concerns for other retailers, Macy's and Wal-Mart receiving the spill-over effect. Macy's shares were down close to 4 per cent, and Wal-Mart down just a touch at three quarters of a percent. Turning now to the NYMEX, crude oil picked up steam on the possibility of tightened supplies. Geo-political issues were behind some of the run-up in the price of oil. In the Middle East, Turkish war planes bombed targets in Northern Iraq focusing attention on the risk to crude inventories in that region. Also applying pressure to the price of oil was the prospect of tighter supplies in the U.S. Crude stockpiles are already at their lowest level in almost 3 years. On Thursday, the U.S. inventory data will come out on supply levels, and traders are expecting a decrease in inventories. By the close, light sweet crude rose 2 per cent settling at nearly 96 dollars a barrel. Across the Atlantic, European markets were closed for a holiday shortened trading week. For Reuters, I'm Diane King in New York.