U.S. stocks ended mixed on Tuesday amid signs of progress in talks as the minutes ticked down to President Donald Trump’s deadline to open the Strait of Hormuz to Iran. All three major US stock indexes were paired during the final hours of trading after Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on X that diplomatic efforts for a peaceful settlement of the ongoing war in the Middle East were moving forward while he urged Trump to extend his Iran deadline by two weeks and requested that Iran open the Straits by the same deadline.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq snapped their respective winning streaks after four straight days of gains.

“Investors are calibrating as they try to read the president’s message and predict to what degree (to what extent) he will follow through with some of his rhetoric regarding the ultimatum,” said Matthew Cator, managing partner at wealth management firm Cater Group in Lenox, Massachusetts. “How much of that is posturing, and how much of it telegraphs what it will actually do?”

“Investors need to ensure that they make whatever adjustments are necessary for their individual circumstances,” Kator added.

While attacks on Iran have intensified, the country has yet to allow traffic through the crucial Strait of Hormuz waterway to resume, despite Trump’s threats if no deal is reached by the end of Tuesday.

Oil prices have surged since the United States and Israel declared war on Iran on February 28, roiling markets, dampening fears of rising inflation and hopes that the US Federal Reserve will cut interest rates this year.

Next month US WTI crude settled up 0.5% from session highs, while Brent crude settled down 0.5%.

Chicago Fed President Austin Goolsby said he was worried the war would raise inflation while undermining the economy, resulting in lingering shocks and putting the central bank in a bind. On the economic front, a report from the Commerce Department showed that new orders for durable goods fell more than analysts expected in February, before the start of the war.

Later in the week, the Labor Department’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) will provide a glimpse into the extent to which the war against Iran has affected inflation.

According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 rose 6.09 points, or 0.09%, to close at 6,617.92, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 28.46 points, or 0.13%, to 22,024.80. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 78.54 points, or 0.17%, at 46,591.34. The US government announced Monday that it would increase payments to private insurers offering Medicare Advantage plans to older adults, up from a near-flat change previously proposed, after UnitedHealth jumped in and Humana and CVS Health stepped up.

Apple shares fell after Nikkei Asia reported that the gadget maker’s long-awaited foldable phone is facing engineering setbacks. Chipmaker Broadcom jumped after signing a long-term deal with Alphabet to develop its AI chips and other components. Intel’s rise came after the company said it would join Elon Musk’s TeraFab AI chip complex project along with SpaceX, Tesla and xAI.