Weak dollar: Stocks lower, gold hits $1,000, oil tops $110

— -- Stocks traded lower Thursday after a sagging dollar pushed gold futures prices to a record $1,000 an ounce and crude oil to $110 a barrel. The Dow Jones industrial average at times fell more than 200 points but by midday was down less than 100.

Stocks pared losses after Standard & Poor's said an end to subprime-related write-downs is now in sight for large financial institutions.

But commodity pressures remain.

After reaching $1,001 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold slipped back a bit.

The price still doesn't match the all-time inflation-adjusted high of $850 in 1980. An $850 ounce of gold then would be worth $2,177 in today's dollars.

Gold has been pushing up against the $1,000 mark for weeks, mainly due to the weaker dollar. Interest rate cuts — and the prospect of more on the way — have weakened the dollar so much that foreign investors can buy dollar-based commodities like gold more cheaply

Oil was about $110 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after earlier rising to a trading record of $111.

Earlier Thursday, the dollar plunged below 100 yen for the first time in more than 12 years, dragging Asian stocks down with it.

Investors were also getting their first look at a plan outlined by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to provide stronger regulatory oversight of mortgage lenders, whose lax standards are blamed for touching off the concerns about souring debt that have led to turmoil in the credit markets.

But talk of regulatory changes appeared to do little to dislodge the glum mood on Wall Street. A government report showing that retail sales fell in February rather than increasing as had been expected only added to investors' worries.

In Tokyo, the benchmark Nikkei 225 stock index skidded 427.69 points, or 3.3%, to 12,433.44. Plunging head first were shares of exporters such as Toyota (down 3%), Honda (4.4%) and Canon (4.3%). The dollar dipped to 99.75 yen in Asian trading — first time it's sunk below 100 yen since November 1995 — before bobbing back to close above 100. A stronger yen makes Japanese-made products more expensive in the U.S. market and shrinks dollar earnings from the U.S. when they're brought home to Japan as yen.