NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Gold futures broke above the psychologically key level of $1,000 an ounce Thursday, propelled by ongoing dollar weakness and bleak news from the financial sector.

Early Thursday, gold for April delivery soared to a record high of $1,001.50 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange. This was the first time that gold surpassed $1,000 an ounce. Graphic: Timeline of gold's march to $1000.

Later in the session, the gold contract gave up some of its gains and ended up $13.30 at $993.80 an ounce.

"Today's spike will likely become known as the Carlyle/Drake rally," said Jon Nadler, senior analyst at Kitco Bullion Dealers, in a research note.

"The imminent doom of the Washington-based bond fund and probable demise of the hedge fund sent icy shivers through the financial markets that way overshadowed the cheer we witnessed following the Fed's term facility plan the other day," Nadler said.

On Wall Street, U.S. stocks reversed early sharp losses to end higher after Standard & Poor's suggested that the bulk of write-downs linked to bad home loans may be behind for banks. See Market Snapshot.

The statement helped to partially offset concerns about the potential collapse of a fund owned by Carlyle Group CARYF and another weak report on retail sales.

Carlyle Capital, the bond fund affiliated with private equity firm The Carlyle Group, is on the verge of collapse after failing to agree a new financing deal with lenders.

“ "This is just the start of things, and if the government continues to give away money and torpedo the dollar, gold will do nothing but move higher." ” — Zachary Oxman, Wisdom Financial

The fund said late Wednesday that it expects lenders will soon take possession of "substantially all" its remaining assets after it was unable to meet surging margin calls on its portfolio of residential-mortgage-backed securities. Read more.

Adding to the bad news from the financial sector, Drake Management LLC, a hedge-fund firm run by Anthony Faillace and Steve Luttrell, is mulling options that include shutting its largest fund after losses and redemption requests from some investors, according to a letter sent to clients Wednesday. Read more.

Gold at $1,000 "will one day, and likely not too far off in the future, be looked at as a foreshadowing milestone," said Peter Spina, an analyst at GoldSeek.com.

"The gravity of the unfolding situation is starting to sink in with investors and that leads many more of them to move capital into real money -- into gold and silver," Spina said.

The dollar rebounded in afternoon trading Thursday from its earlier plunge against the Japanese yen, when the U.S. currency briefly fell through the psychologically key 100-yen level for the first time in over 12 years. See Currencies.

The dollar also recovered from all-time lows against the euro and the Swiss franc hit earlier Thursday.

The gold market is boosted by "dollar weakness, extreme concern over the market and a continued bid by funds that are taking the Fed money they are given and speculating with it vs. lending it," said Zachary Oxman, a senior trader at Wisdom Financial.

"This is just the start of things, and if the government continues to give away money and torpedo the dollar, gold will do nothing but move higher," Oxman said.

On Tuesday, the Federal Reserve and other leading central banks doubled to more than $400 billion the amount of money they're willing to lend to banks and bond dealers, hoping to flood dysfunctional credit markets with enough money to get them working again.

In more bleak economic news Thursday, the Commerce Department reported that consumer spending weakened again in February as U.S. retail sales fell 0.6%.

Most kinds of retail stores reported lower seasonally adjusted sales in February even before the impact of inflation was counted. The figures were weaker than expected by Wall Street economists, who forecast no change in retail sales. See Economic Report.

Also on the Nymex, May silver rose 42 cents to $20.42 an ounce. April platinum gained $27.50 to end at $2,097.50 an ounce and June palladium rose $5 to $515.90 an ounce.

May copper ended down 1 cent at $3.83 a pound.

Crude-oil futures gained for a fourth straight day, closing above $110 a barrel for the first time and hitting a new record of $111 a barrel in the morning. See Futures Movers.

The Amex Gold Bugs Index HUI, soared 3.7% at 507.50 points.