At the end of the session on October 6, the cryptocurrency market and the US stock market fell due to increasing tensions in the Middle East. Investor excitement after a quarter of strong growth has somewhat cooled down.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 173.18 points, or 0.41%, to 42,156.97 after Iran fired ballistic missiles at Israel. The S&P 500 fell 0.93% to 5,708.75. The Nasdaq Composite fell 1.53% to close at 17,910.36.

Asia-Pacific stocks were mostly in the red on the morning of October 2. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index fell 0.1%. South Korea's Kospi fell 0.1%, while the small-cap Kosdaq fell 0.8%. Notably, Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell 1.7%, while the Topix index fell 0.9%.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose nearly 3% at the start of trading. Mainland Chinese exchanges will be closed for the rest of the week as the country enters its "Golden Week" holiday.

WTI oil prices surged after the Middle East news. The CBOE Volatility Index – Wall Street’s fear gauge – also rose, hitting an intraday high of 20 points.

However, oil prices steadied during the session as traders hoped damage and subsequent retaliation from Israel would be minimal.

“Contagion fears are always destabilizing,” said Keith Buchanan, senior portfolio manager at Globalt Investments.

Cryptocurrencies have also reacted to the unrest in the Middle East. Bitcoin fell nearly 4% to $60,972.62, according to Coin Metrics. Bitcoin fell as low as $60,175 at around 4:45 p.m. ET. Ether traded at $2,449.83, down more than 5%.

“Increasing unrest across the Middle East has pushed oil prices higher and strengthened the US dollar, negatively impacting bitcoin and other investments,” said Chris Kline, CEO of Bitcoin IRA.



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