Stocks were mixed on Wednesday as the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped after reversing earlier gains and the Dow Jones edged higher.
The S&P 500 fell 0.10%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite dropped more than 0.4%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.35%.
CNBC noted that shares of Micron dropped almost 6%, while Sandisk did so about 5%, after both fell more than 10% on Tuesday. It is the third session in a row that technological indexes fall. Micron shares later jumped after informing its revenue more than quadrupled in the third fiscal quarter.
Rick Gardner, chief investment officer at RGA Investments, called the pullback "healthy," claiming that many tech stocks were "overstretched."
"The tech pullback suggests that investors are coming to the realization that earnings expectations for tech stocks are high, creating a more difficult bar to clear when earnings season re-starts in July, and we would characterize this pullback as a recalibration of expectations."
Elsewhere, energy prices continued to drop as the Strait of Hormuz remains open amid negotiations between the U.S. and Iran.
Brent crude, the international benchmark, dropped more than 4% on Wednesday, hovering below $74 a barrel at 4:03 p.m. West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, saw a similar fall, standing below $70 a barrel.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright said U.S. military escorts to ships mean Iran no longer has the ability to close the key waterway.
Speaking at a conference in New York City, Chris Wright said such actions from Tehran are "their key leverage and we're taking that leverage away from them."
He went on to claim that 17 million barrels of oil went through the key waterway even though Iran said during the weekend it was closed. And added that 72 ships carrying 19 million additional barrels went through the strait in the past 24 hours.
Elsewhere, Wright said that the Trump administration could reimpose its blockade of Iranian ports if negotiations between Washington and Tehran are unfruitful.
"If we can get no deal with Iran, we will assure that the flow of energy is there, the world is well supplied and the Iranian administration will be in a world of hurt," he said.
The United Nations' maritime agency has also begun implementing a large-scale operation to evacuate more than 11,000 seafarers stranded aboard hundreds of vessels in and around the Strait of Hormuz.
According to the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the evacuation effort will involve close cooperation among Iran, Oman, other Gulf coastal states, the United States, and the global shipping industry. "We will begin the implementation of the evacuation plan for over 11,000 seafarers still stranded in the region," IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez said in a statement announcing the operation.
