With uncertainty over passage through the Strait of Hormuz persisting and inflation concerns mounting, the three major U.S. stock indexes closed lower on the 11th.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished at 53,791.85, down 184.13 points, or 0.34%, from the previous session's close.
The Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 index closed at 7,728.20, down 24.91 points, or 0.32%, from the previous session, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite ended at 26,445.45, down 159.91 points, or 0.60%.
As the market focused on the July consumer price index (CPI) due out on the 12th, stalled U.S.-Iran talks over the Strait of Hormuz added to inflation worries.
Oil rose again. Brent crude futures settled at $88.91 a barrel, up 1.4% from the previous session, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures settled at $83.20 a barrel, up 1.3%.
Pakistan's Minister of the Ministry of National Defense Khawaja Asif, who has mediated cease-fire talks between the United States and Iran, said in an interview with Bloomberg that the two sides were close to "some kind of agreement," briefly boosting optimism.
By contrast, Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), said, "The Strait of Hormuz will never open until the United States changes its stance and accepts Iran's conditions," damping expectations for an early breakthrough.
Alphabet, Google's parent company, fell 3.84% on continued concerns over its artificial intelligence (AI) business.
Alphabet shares have been on a weak trend since the 5th, when chief scientist Jeff Dean left Google and a reshuffle of AI-related unit leadership was announced.
Separately, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), U.S. existing home sales in July were 4.06 million (seasonally adjusted annual rate), down 1.7% from the prior month.
The aftermath of the U.S.-Iran war pushed up U.S. mortgage loan lending rates, which appeared to weigh on home transactions.