 a barrel comex gold is up seven tenths of a percent of 17.50 at 24 46 50 an ounce the euro 1.0895 against the dollar british pound 1.2962 the yen 158.45 and bitcoin is down nine tenths of a percent it's at about 63 200 and investors will be looking forward to retail sales data due out later today and that is a bloomberg business flash now here's michael barr with more on what's going on in