05:24 PM EDT, 03/10/2026 (MT Newswires) -- US equities closed mostly lower on Tuesday, while oil prices pared losses as traders continued to track the latest on the ongoing Middle East conflict.

The S&P 500 fell 0.2% to 6,781.5 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.1% to 47,706.5. The Nasdaq Composite was virtually flat at 22,697.1. Barring communication services and technology, all sectors were in the red, led by energy.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil fell 9.1% at $86.18 a barrel, while Brent declined 8% to $91. The two oil benchmarks were down by double-digit percentage figures in afternoon trade.

Washington will not relent in the ongoing war until "the enemy is totally and decisively defeated," CNN reported Tuesday, citing US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Iran began laying mines in the crucial Strait of Hormuz, CNN reported separately.

"We have hit, and completely destroyed, 10 inactive mine laying boats and/or ships, with more to follow," US President Donald Trump said in a social media post after market close.

International Energy Agency member countries were due to meet on Tuesday to evaluate "the current security of supply and market conditions to inform a subsequent decision on whether to make emergency stocks" available to the market, IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said.

"The oil market remains highly volatile as geopolitical headlines collide with the physical reality of disrupted energy flows from the Persian Gulf," Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank, said in a report.

On Monday, Trump said the war with Iran will end "very soon," CNBC reported. The US could waive certain sanctions to reduce oil prices and have the Navy escort tankers through the crucial Strait of Hormuz, Bloomberg News reported, citing Trump.

"Trump's words will only go so far," ING Bank said in a Tuesday report. "Ultimately, the market will need to see a resumption of oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz to sustain a move lower in oil prices. Failing that, we are unlikely to have seen the highs yet."

US Treasury yields were mixed, with the 10-year rate up 2.2 basis points at 4.16% and the two-year rate unchanged at 3.61%.

In economic news, US existing home sales unexpectedly increased in February as lower mortgage rates helped improve affordability, data from the National Association of Realtors showed.

Sales are expected to "gradually improve" in 2026, assuming the US-Israel war against Iran doesn't persist long enough to push interest rates higher or deteriorate the labor market, Oxford Economics said in a note.

In company news, Nio's (NIO) fourth-quarter sales surged more than Wall Street's expectations, helping the Chinese electric vehicle maker swing to earnings, while it forecast revenue in the ongoing quarter to more than double year over year. The company's American depositary receipts surged 15%.

BioNTech's (BNTX) co-founders plan to leave the German drugmaker to establish a new independent company focused on messenger ribonucleic acid technologies, while the company provided a full-year revenue outlook below market expectations. BioNTech's US-listed shares plunged nearly 18%.

Gold was last up 1.9% at $5,201.90 per troy ounce, while silver jumped 4.8% to $88.54 per ounce.