Wall St. sinks at the open
Weak economic reports and records for oil and gold send investors out of stocks.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- U.S. stocks fell at Thursday's open due to a potent mix of a weak economy and record prices for gold and oil.
The Dow Jones industrial average lost 1.1%. The Nasdaq composite index sank 1.3%. The Standard & Poor's 500 index was 1% lower.
In the news Thursday:
Retail sales: Monthly sales suffered a surprising 0.6% drop last month as American households continued to curtail their spending amid higher energy and food prices and a weakening jobs market.
Gold: Gold prices touched the $1,000 milestone for the first time ever as the dollar plunged amid fears about the health of the U.S. economy.
Oil: Oil prices soared above $110 a barrel as investors looked to commodities as a safe haven against the U.S. dollar's slide.
Carlyle Capital: The fund said it expects its creditors to seize all remaining assets after unsuccessful negotiations to prevent its liquidation.
AOL: The Internet arm of Time Warner (TWX, Fortune 500), parent of CNNMoney.com, said it will pay $850 million in cash to acquire social media network Bebo, which has total global membership of more than 40 million. 
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