Another record high for oil prices helped keep Canadian markets in positive territory on Thursday, but joined forces with Eliot Spitzer and General Motors to push U.S. markets to a 100-point loss.

At close, the S&P/TSX was up 16 points or 0.18% at 8745.64, after being up close to 50 points early in the day; the TSX Venture exchange lost 5.72 points or 0.34% at 1656.63.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average dipped below the psychologically significant 10000 level, losing 107.88 points or 1.08% at 9894.45. The Nasdaq slipped 17.51 points or 0.91% to 1903.02 and the S&P 500 fell 10.36 points or 0.93% to 1103.29.

The Canadian dollar was up 0.04 of a cent at US79.59¢ in late trading.

Oil stocks kept the TSX in the black as crude prices roared to fresh record highs to end near US$55 a barrel, as the U.S. government reported another fall in heating fuel stocks ahead of winter. U.S. light sweet crude leaped US$1.12 to end at US$54.76 a barrel, after briefly hitting a record $54.88 and staging a rapid rebound from a short bout of profit-taking by big-money funds earlier this week. Crude has climbed more than 65% so far this year.

The TSX’s energy sub-group closed up 0.98% with Petro-Canada and Talisman posting big gains.

Financial stocks were also ahead, 0.28%, but were held back by declines by Canadian insurance companies — Manulife Financial and Sun Life Financial were off 1.10% and 3.03%, respectively. They may have been feeling the fallout from New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer’s announcement he is suing insurance broker giant Marsh & McLennan for steering unsuspecting clients to certain insurers in exchange for lucrative payoffs.

Meanwhile, the TSX gold sub-sector dipped 0.34% despite another jump in gold prices.

On Wall Street, U.S. stocks were hit by the triple whammy of Spitzer’s announcement, oil prices and lower-than-expected earnings from General Motors Corp.

Among sharply declining insurance-related shares were Dow component AIG, down almost 11%, or $7.09 at $59.90, while Marsh & McLennan, parent of mutual fund company Putnam Investments, fell 25%, down $11.42 to $34.71.

The negative sentiment spread to other insurance stocks, with Aon Corp. down $4.21 at $23.45, and Willis Group Holdings down $2.80 at $34.30.

Five of the top 10 percentage losers in the S&P 500 Index were insurance stocks, and those five stocks accounted for $26 billion in lost market capitalization.

Meanwhile, GM fell 6%, dragging on the Dow, after it posted results at the low end of its own forecast and slashed its earnings outlook for the year, due to slowing growth in China and mounting losses in Europe.