WASHINGTON — Energy prices rose in June, helping drive bigger-than-expected gains in retail sales and inflation at the producer level.

The higher prices at the gas pump and for other energy products were seen as temporary, but economists worry that consumer spending will remain lackluster as unemployment rises.

The Commerce Department reported yesterday that retail sales rose 0.6 percent in June, the biggest gain in five months. But without the gains from gasoline station sales and a rebound in autos, retail sales dipped 0.2 percent.

SEC CHANGES ARE TO PROTECT INVESTORS

WASHINGTON — The Securities and Exchange Commission has been revamping itself, buttressing enforcement efforts and taking a series of initiatives to protect investors in the wake of the financial crisis and massive Madoff fraud, the agency's chairwoman said yesterday.

The agency has undergone fundamental changes "that will reinforce our focus on investor protection and market integrity," SEC Chairwoman Mary Schapiro testified at a House hearing.

FDIC RESISTS CALLS TO HELP CIT GROUP

WASHINGTON — With government officials locked in negotiations about a possible bailout for business lender CIT Group Inc., the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is resisting calls to open a key subsidy to the troubled firm, according to people familiar with the matter.

Despite fears that problems at CIT could imperil perhaps a million small- and midsized businesses from the franchisees of Dunkin' Donuts to retailer Dillard's Inc., the FDIC maintained that its loan guarantee program was the wrong prescription for the company.

MADOFF BEGINS 150-YEAR SENTENCE

WASHINGTON — Disgraced financier Bernard Madoff arrived yesterday at a federal prison in North Carolina to begin serving a 150-year sentence for what is believed to be the largest Ponzi scheme in history.

Federal Bureau of Prisons spokeswoman Linda Thomas said Madoff arrived at the Butner, N.C., facility after leaving federal jail in New York City on Monday.

Madoff has a projected release date of Nov. 14, 2139, assuming he gets early release credit for good behavior while in prison.