Crude oil zooms, stocks fall

New York: Oil touched a record high of above $78 a barrel on Friday as fighting between Israel and Hizbollah guerrillas in Lebanon escalated.

U.S. stocks fell for a third consecutive session as investors shifted into safer assets.

Gold prices also rise to a seven-week high at $669 an ounce as investors sought safer investments amid the Mideast turmoil. The dollar rose against the major currencies, including the yen after The Bank of Japan raised interest rates for the first time in six years but signaled it was in no rush to tighten policy further.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 106.94 points, or 0.99 percent, to end at 10,739.35. The Dow ended the week down 3.2 percent. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index slipped 6.09 points, or 0.49 percent, to finish at 1,236.20, down 2.3 percent on the week. The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 16.76 points, or 0.82 percent, to close at 2,037.75, down 4.4 percent for the week.

A disappointing forecast for third-quarter earnings from General Electric Co also weighed on the stock market. GE stock fell to $32.06, the lowest level in nearly two years, and closed at $32.11, down 1.7 percent, or 56 cents. Data showing U.S. retail sales slipped 0.1 per cent in June and a decline in the University of Michigan's preliminary reading on consumer sentiment for July trimmed expectations for an August interest-rate hike from the Federal Reserve.