The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq closed lower Friday as weak consumer sentiment data and the Middle East conflict soured investors on riskier bets and overshadowed upbeat quarterly earnings from some of the largest U.S. banks.

Wall Street's three major indexes opened higher but lost ground after a preliminary reading on U.S. consumer sentiment showed a sharp fall in October.

Investors were also monitoring news out of the Middle East. On Friday Israel said it carried out raids inside the Gaza Strip, its first announcement of a shift to ground operations aimed at Hamas fighters after their deadly rampage in Israel. The United Nations said Israel's call for Gaza civilians to leave was impossible "without devastating humanitarian consequences."

U.S. Treasury prices rose as investors looked for safety while the price of U.S. crude oil rose more than 5%.

"This signals more of a risk off-sentiment," said Lauren Goodwin, economist and portfolio strategist at New York Life Investments. The moves in bonds, equities and oil reflect worries about deteriorating consumer sentiment, the global economy and geopolitical conflict, she added.

At this stage of the economic cycle when data has been good but is "expected to deteriorate over the next several months," Goodwin said, "shifts in leadership are incredibly common and no one market narrative tends to last for more than a couple of days at a time."

Unless there is a major escalation in the Middle East war the strategist said he did not expect Friday's mood to be "indicative of the beginning of a troubled market."

According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 lost 21.66 points, or 0.49%, to end at 4,328.34 points, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 166.98 points, or 1.23%, to 13,407.23. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 39.41 points, or 0.13%, to 33,673.39.

Among the S&P's 11 major industry sectors energy was leading gains as oil prices rose. Defensive sectors such as utilities were also top gainers during the session.

Other safe-haven assets such as gold rallied.

Shares in JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Citigroup rose after their quarterly profits trounced analysts' estimates with help from higher interest rates.

But even the S&P 500 Banks index pared gains as the session wore on after earlier rising as much as 3.4% to a three-week high.

Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia President Patrick Harker said he believes the central bank is likely done with its rate-hiking cycle as price pressures have eased.

Among individual stocks, asset manager BlackRock dipped after posting a sharp drop in third-quarter net inflows.

UnitedHealth advanced after beating third-quarter profit estimates.

Dollar General rallied after the discount store retailer brought back former CEO Todd Vasos to replace Chief Executive Jeff Owen.

Boeing fell after the planemaker and Spirit AeroSystems expanded the scope of their ongoing inspections of a production defect affecting 737 Max 8 aircraft. Spirit's shares were also down.