The US markets ended sharply lower for the day and week on Friday( 20th October 2023) as investors worried about more interest rate hikes and the Israel-Hamas conflict spreading.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq fell more than 1 percent each. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 287 points, or 0.9 percent, to 33,127. The S&P 500 lost 54 points, or 1.3 per cent, to 4,224 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 202 points, or 1.5 percent, to 12,984.

For the week, the Dow was down 1.6 percent, the S&P 500 fell 2.4 percent and the Nasdaq slid 3.2 percent.

Shares of credit card company American Express fell 5.4 percent even though its third-quarter profit beat expectations.