(Updates with index/price moves and geopolitical news from the first paragraph.)
US equity indexes slipped amid a decline in growth sectors, while crude oil extended gains as investors weighed geopolitical developments in the Middle East to gauge the timing for a reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
The Nasdaq Composite fell 0.5% to 26,476, the S&P 500 slipped 0.2% to 7,738.5 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.1% lower at 53,907.9.
Communication services, consumer discretionary and technology led decliners, while energy topped the gainers.
SK hynix (SKHY) plans to resume construction at its second NAND flash facility in Dalian, China, to boost local output by about 50%, Seoul Economic Daily reported, citing semiconductor industry sources. Its shares jumped 3.2%, the top performer among stocks with market capitalization of more than $200 billion each, according to data compiled by Finviz.
AppLovin's (APP) 30% long-term annual revenue growth target lacks sufficient evidence, with uncertainty rising around the sustainability of its self-learning growth, BofA Securities said Tuesday in a report. Shares dropped 5.2%, the worst performer on the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq.
US and Iran are "close to some sort of arrangement" over the Strait of Hormuz, Pakistan's defense minister was cited as saying in a Bloomberg report. Majed al-Ansari, Qatar's Foreign Ministry spokesman, said negotiations between Oman and Iran on the future of shipping in the Strait of Hormuz have reached an advanced stage, Al Jazeera, a Middle Eastern broadcaster, reported. Pakistan's Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi is heading to Tehran to hold talks with his Iranian counterpart, Bloomberg cited Iran's semi-official Fars agency.
A Saudi-owned commercial vessel was reportedly struck by a missile while transiting the Bab al-Mandeb Strait in the Red Sea, shipping sources and Yemeni officials told marine intelligence group Marisks, according to CNN. An incident involving a container ship and an unknown military force in the Gulf of Oman has been reported by the UK Maritime Trade Operations, CNN reported.
Mohsen Rezaee, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, told China's ambassador that the Strait of Hormuz "will not be opened until the United States changes its behavior and accepts Iran's conditions," Al Jazeera cited Iran's Tasnim news agency.
The front-month US West Texas Intermediate crude oil contract climbed 1.39% to $83.27 per barrel, and global benchmark North Sea Brent advanced 1.1% to $88.69 per barrel, extending gains this week.
US Treasury yields fell, with the 10-year yield down 1.6 basis points to 4.68% and the two-year lower by 1.5 basis points to 4.22%, giving up all gains before the US equity market opened for regular trading on Tuesday.
Gold futures rose 0.6% to $4,444.01, while silver futures slipped 0.3% to $65.07.
In economic news, the pace of US existing home sales fell by 1.7% to a 4.06 million seasonally adjusted annual rate in July from 4.13 million in June, compared with a larger expected decrease to a 4.05 million rate in a survey compiled by Bloomberg, data from the National Association of Realtors released Tuesday showed.
The National Federation of Independent Business's monthly Small Business Optimism Index rose to 99.8 in July from 97.4 in June but was below the 100.3 reported a year earlier.
Redbook US same-store sales jumped 8.3% from a year earlier in the week ended Aug. 8 after an 8.7% surge in the previous week.
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