NEW YORK — U.S. stocks are drifting near their record heights Friday following the latest report on the economy to come in surprisingly weak, this time about how much shoppers are spending at retailers. Such data could keep interest rates low, which is something Wall Street loves, but it also raises the risk of a slowing economy when inflation is still high. The S&P 500 slipped 0.2 percent from its all-time high set the day before. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 113 points, or 0.2 percent, as of 11:45 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.5 percent lower. Stocks gave up modest gains from earlier in the morning after oil prices swung higher. The price for a barrel of Brent crude rose 0.9 percent to $87.88 as uncertainty continues about when the war with Iran will allow oil tankers to freely exit the Persian Gulf again. Also raising uncertainty was a report showing shoppers spent less at U.S. retailers last month than the month before. That surprised economists, who were forecasting another month of growth. On the bright side for financial markets, such a pullback
