Dow tumbles 200 points at the start

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks gave back all of its previous session gains Thursday as investors weighed record-high oil prices, a slew of economic reports and disappointing earnings news from oil giant Exxon Mobil.

The Dow Jones industrial average (Charts) nearly 200 points, or 1.4 percent, in the opening minutes of trade.

The broader S&P 500 index (Charts) lost 1.5 percent, while the tech-fueled Nasdaq slipped 1.2 percent.

Pressuring stocks were sky-high oil prices that hit a new record of $96.24 a barrel in electronic trading, before turning lower, falling 41 cents to $94.12 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Also hurting investor confidence was Dow component Exxon Mobil (Charts, Fortune 500), which reported a bigger-than-expected drop in its quarterly earnings. Exxon shares fell 2.5 percent in early trade on the New York Stock Exchange.

Stocks surged just a session earlier after the Federal Reserve delivered the quarter percentage point rate cut that Wall Street was hoping for, lowering its key lending rate to 4.5 percent.

With the Fed decision behind them, investors shifted their attention to a host of economic reports delivered Thursday.

The government reported that personal income and spending by individuals rose less than expected in September, while personal income rose in line with expectations.

The report also included a key inflation measure known as the core PCE deflator, which measures prices paid by consumers for items other than food and energy. It showed a 1.8 percent increase, within the Fed's comfort level.

Initial jobs claims came in at 327,000, a bit less than forecasts as well as the previous week's reading.

Reports on the ISM index, a gauge of nationwide manufacturing activity, also is slated for release after the market opens.

In corporate news, Altria (Charts, Fortune 500), the nation's No. 1 cigarette maker, said Thursday it agreed to buy cigar maker John Middleton for$2.9 billion in cash. Shares of Dow component Altria slipped 0.3 percent in pre-market trading on the news.

U.S. automakers are due to report October sales Thursday. Analysts are looking to see if General Motors (Charts, Fortune 500) can again post improved sales compared a year earlier, as it did in September when it gained ground on both domestic rivals such as Ford Motor (Charts, Fortune 500) and Chrysler, as well as some Asian competitors such as Toyota Motor (Charts).

In global trade, Asian stocks finished higher while European stocks slipped in morning trading.

The dollar, which hit yet another record low against the euro Wednesday after the Fed rate cut, recovered slightly on both the European currency and the yen.

Gold prices, which Wednesday topped $800 for the first time since 1980 before closing at $795.30, topped that benchmark again in early morning trading, before retreating $3.80 to $791.50.