American Express shares ended higher Friday, thanks to a boost from Delta Airlines.

Delta Airlines' third-quarter results said that: New cards and spending on Amex and Delta's co-brand cards each grew over 10%. The carrier expects to receive over $9 billion this year from Amex as part of the two companies' co-branded cards, up from $8.2 billion last year.

That helped Amex investors shrug off a reprimand and fine from regulators.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said it was fining Amex $350 million after it had found Amex's compliance program for financial crimes had been inadequate. That was in part because its program did not properly match the risks in its business and had not been given appropriate resources, regulators said.

Shares opened trading down on Friday about 1%, but closed up 0.3%.