At the close, the broad S&P 500 index and the technology-heavy Nasdaq's composite index had fallen 0.3 percent, while the Dow Jones industrial index retreated 0.5 percent.
The index-heavy chip giants Nvidia and AMD started the day with falling prices.
This came after the announcement that the companies will pay 15 percent of their revenues in China to the US state in exchange for export licenses to China.
However, investors then regained their appetite for the shares - before they fell again, and both Nvidia and AMD ended up 0.3 percent in the minus.
Will "dictate”
The stock market's cautious stance was reinforced by the wait for two important American inflation indicators in the form of a consumer price index (CPI) on Tuesday and a producer price index on Thursday.
All inflation statistics are taken into account in the levels of the country's interest rate, which the central bank Federal Reserve (Fed) will next decide on at its meeting on September 17-18.
Jay Woods, global chief strategist at the analysis company Freedom Capital Markets, points particularly to the importance of the CPI statistics.
It will definitely dictate monetary policy, he says according to CNBC.
Economists predict that the CPI for July will rise compared to June to around 3 percent on an annual basis, with a slightly higher figure for core CPI, where more flexible food and energy prices have been excluded.
The Fed's inflation target is 2 percent.
Risk of disappointment
The market has now priced in that the Fed will lower the interest rate next month with 87 percent probability from the current range of 4.25-4.5 percent.
Sam Stovall, chief strategist at the analysis firm CFRA Research, says there is a risk that the advocates for a rate cut may be disappointed.
The Fed will have a dilemma to handle if inflation takes hold and if consumers remain willing to spend - where is the need to lower interest rates then? he asks.
