July 1 (Reuters) - U.S. stock indexes ended Wednesday's session slightly lower as the technology sector declined, but gains in MetaPlatforms provided some support, along with comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh indicating that inflation risks have eased recently.

Warsh also said he strongly adheres to the US Federal Reserve's target inflation rate of 2 percent, and will "disappoint" anyone expecting monetary policy easing despite President Donald Trump's call for lower interest rates.

Oil prices rose sharply as the war with Iran broke out. Traders lowered their expectations for interest rate hikes slightly following Warsh's comments, but data from the London Stock Exchange Group indicates they still expect the US Federal Reserve to raise rates at least once this year.

Shares in MetaPlatforms rose after Bloomberg News reported that the company is working on a cloud services venture to sell its surplus computing power in the field of artificial intelligence.

"This looks likely to continue supporting the stock," said Tim Gresske, senior portfolio strategist at Ingals & Snyder in New York.

He added, "The stock underperformed the Big Seven," which includes other large-cap companies. Meta shares remain down since the beginning of the year.

The index of semiconductor companies' stocks declined significantly.

Preliminary data showed the S&P 500 closing down 14.34 points, or 0.19 percent, at 7,485.02, the Nasdaq Composite down 169.56 points, or 0.65 percent, at 26,044.16, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 3.62 points, or 0.01 percent, at 52,315.58.

US Vice President J.D. Vance said talks between the United States and Iran were progressing well, with the two sides holding indirect technical discussions in Qatar on Wednesday regarding the Strait of Hormuz. He added that Washington would not return to full-scale warfare unless absolutely necessary. The United States and Iran signed an interim agreement last month.