US stocks open lower following Bhutto assassination

Stocks fell in early trading Thursday after the assassination of Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto and after the U.S. government reported a weak increase in durable goods orders.

Bhutto's assassination raised the possibility of increasing political unrest abroad, always an unsettling prospect for investors. Oil, gold and bond prices rose following the news.

Meanwhile, the Commerce Department said orders for durable goods _ products expected to last at least three years _ rose by just 0.1 percent last month. Economists had been looking for a rise of 2.2 percent. Still, November saw the first rise in durable-goods orders in the last four months.

The notion that the U.S. economy is slowing was also unnerving for the market.

Meanwhile, the Labor Department said the number of workers seeking unemployment benefits rose slightly last week.

In the first minutes of trading, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 54.87, or 0.40 percent, to 13,496.82.

Broader stock indicators also fell. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 5.19, or 0.35 percent, to 1,492.47, and Nasdaq composite index fell 7.70, or 0.28 percent, to 2,716.71.

Bond prices rose sharply as investors sought safety. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, fell to 4.21 percent from 4.29 percent late Wednesday. The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices rose.

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