NEW YORK, May 12 (Reuters) - Wall Street's Standard & Poor's and Nasdaq indexes closed lower on Tuesday, retreating from record highs, as stronger-than-expected U.S. inflation data and the increasingly fragile U.S.-Iran ceasefire prompted investors to take profits near the end of a strong first-quarter earnings season.

Weak technology stocks were the main reason for the Nasdaq's decline, while healthcare stocks, boosted by a rise in Humana shares, helped keep the Dow Jones in positive territory.

The Standard & Poor's and Nasdaq remain close to their all-time highs despite the sell-off.

With the corporate earnings season drawing to a close, investors are increasingly focusing on valuations, macroeconomics, and geopolitical developments.

The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index declined, but it has risen by more than 60 percent this year, benefiting from enthusiasm for artificial intelligence.

Jay Hatfield, CEO and portfolio manager at InfraCap in New York, said, "Our expectation was that the market would stabilize, simply because greed emerges during the earnings season, while fear emerges afterward."

Economic data showed that consumer prices rose at a faster pace than analysts had predicted, as the closure of the Strait of Hormuz due to the war with Iran continued to disrupt crude oil supplies.

Hatfield added, "Inflation will not improve unless oil prices fall. That's what you can set your clock to."

There were no signs of an imminent resolution to the Iran-Iran war, now in its eleventh week. US President Donald Trump declared the ceasefire "on life support" after Tehran rejected a US proposal to end the war, clinging to a list of demands that Trump described as "nonsense."

Preliminary data indicates that the S&P 500 lost 11.16 points, or 0.15 percent, to close at 7401.68, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 184.67 points, or 0.70 percent, to close at 26089.45. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 71.37 points, or 0.14 percent, to 49775.84.

Humana's stock rose after Bernstein raised its target price by 36 percent.