The markets kicked off the week closing in the green zone on Monday, posting their biggest gains since the start of March. In other news, the U.S. Consumer Price Index fell 0.3% for March, after dipping 0.1% in February. Elsewhere, U.S. retail sales retreated by 0.2% in March, which was more than expected, following a revised 0.3% downswing in February. Indices closed in red territory on Tuesday with both Financial and Health Care stocks trading lower on a variety of economic news. Industrial production came in flat for February, while in housing news, new construction levels retreated in March falling 6.8% to an annual rate of 1.22 million housing starts, versus estimates of 1.246 million. Wednesday’s markets were mixed as the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S+P 500 Index shed some points while the NASDAQ ended trading with slight gains. Energy brands led the declines. Crude oil prices also slipped after weekly inventory data from the Energy Information Administration showed a smaller-than-anticipated decrease. Reserves dipped by one million barrels last week versus expectations of 1.5 million barrels. Thursday’s results were positive as the NASDAQ rallied to a new record high. The Department of Labor showed new jobless claims ticked up by 10,000 to 244,000 for the week ending April 15th. Continuing claims decreased by 49,000 to 1.979 million for the week ended April 8. The markets ended their week in the red zone with stocks trading lower on a decline in crude oil and ahead of the French election.