A retreat in crude prices provided some relief for traders worried about inflation, with US equities hovering between gains and losses during early trading. As of 10:00 am in New York, the S&P 500 edged up 0.2%, the Nasdaq 100 slipped 0.2%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.5%.

Dell Technologies surged as much as nearly 14% after the company raised its full-year revenue outlook by $25 billion, driven by a surge in demand for servers used to run artificial intelligence workloads. Broadcom is scheduled to report earnings after the market close.

West Texas Intermediate crude fell below $90 per barrel, pausing a two-day rally that had been fueled by tensions between the US and Iran over control of the Strait of Hormuz. Following the pullback in oil, Treasury yields ticked lower after having climbed to multi-year highs earlier.

Ahead of Friday's nonfarm payrolls report, data showed that US companies added jobs at a slower pace in August. Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Wosh acknowledged some localized concerns in the labor market last week but indicated that overall conditions remain consistent with full employment.

Michael Landsberg of Landsberg Bennett Private Wealth Management commented: "The labor market is fairly steady right now. There's a strong argument that the Fed has accomplished its mandate on employment and can now continue to focus more attention on inflation."

Overall sentiment in US equities remains relatively calm. As of Tuesday, the S&P 500 had gone 24 consecutive trading days without a single-day decline of at least 1%—a stretch of tranquility not seen since mid-May, when investors ramped up bets that US economic growth and corporate earnings would remain robust as data showed inflation cooling. Currently, the S&P 500 sits approximately 2.1% below its record high.