Wall Street ends lower as Middle East tensions push oil prices up 3 per cent
US stocks fell on 24 October as the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed more than 600 points amid renewed Middle East tensions that drove international oil prices up over 3 per cent. The Dow fell 1.2 per cent, while the Nasdaq and S&P 500 also declined.
Wall Street's three main indexes ended lower on 24 October, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping more than 600 points. The decline was driven by renewed Middle East tensions that pushed international oil prices up more than 3 per cent.
The Dow fell as much as 810 points during the session before closing at 52,215, down 652 points or 1.2 per cent. The Nasdaq Composite Index edged 53 points lower to 25,955, a decline of 0.2 per cent. The S&P 500 lost 39 points to finish at 7,623, down 0.5 per cent.
Large technology and semiconductor stocks showed mixed results. Meta, Amazon and Alphabet each fell nearly 1 per cent or more, while Microsoft gained nearly 1 per cent. Intel and Micron Technology rose nearly 2 per cent or more, but Nvidia declined nearly 1 per cent.
Telecommunications stocks fell, with AT&T and T-Mobile US both down nearly 8 per cent. American Express was the worst-performing component of the Dow, falling nearly 4 per cent after the company raised its full-year profit forecast and announced plans to cut 5 per cent of its workforce.
With oil prices rising, Chevron bucked the trend to gain nearly 3 per cent, making it the best-performing Dow component.
For the week, the Dow rose 0.4 per cent, extending its winning streak to three consecutive weeks. The Nasdaq fell 0.7 per cent and the S&P 500 dropped nearly 0.5 per cent, with both indexes declining for a second straight week.