NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks opened lower Friday as falling retail sales overshadowed generally upbeat corporate news.

The Dow (up 95.57 to 11,947.70, Charts) slipped 0.1 percent, putting it about 70 points away from the 12,000 mark.

The broader S&P 500 (down 0.62 to 1,362.21, Charts) index also slipped about 0.1 percent while the tech-fueled Nasdaq composite (down 1.66 to 2,344.52, Charts) lost 0.2 percent.

Investors may get further direction from latest reading on consumer confidence and another on business inventories, both due around 10 a.m. ET.

Before the bell, The Commerce Department reported that retail sales fell 0.4 percent in September on a record 9.3 percent drop in gasoline sales, but were up 0.6 percent excluding gasoline sales.

Wall Street had predicted a 0.2 percent increase. August's number was revised up to 0.1 percent.

Excluding autos, consumer spending fell 0.5 percent, falling further than expected.

The news comes in contrast to robust same-store sales readings issued earlier this month by some of the nation's leading retail chains, including department stores Kohl's (Charts) and JC Penney's (Charts) and Nordstrom (Charts).

In corporate news, General Electric (Charts), the No. 2 stock in the world by market value, reported it earned 49 cents a share, in line with Wall Street forecasts, on strong revenue. The company also narrowed its full-year earnings guidance to a range that includes the current consensus forecast.

Software giant Microsoft (Charts) told the European Commission it will not delay shipping its new Windows operating system, Vista, to Europe, after fears that it might do so because of its regulatory disputes there.

Oil prices climbed in pre-market trading, on news of two oil fields being shutdown in Norway due to safety issues. U.S. light crude was up 93 cents to $58.79 a barrel in electronic trading, while Brent crude trading in London is 89 cents higher at $59.65.

Stocks in Asia closed sharply higher, with indexes in India and Singapore setting record highs and Hong Kong reaching a six-year high, as the Bank of Japan on Friday voted to leave interest rates unchanged. Stocks in Europe were up in early trading as well. The dollar gained versus the yen and the euro following the retail sales report.

Treasury prices were lower, lifting the yield on the 10-year note to 4.780 percent from 4.77 late Thursday.

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