US benchmark equity indexes were mostly higher ahead of Wednesday's close as markets parsed minutes of the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy meeting and evaluated new import tariff threats.

The S&P 500 was up 0.2% at 6,139.5, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.1% to 44,595.8. The Nasdaq Composite was little changed at 20,041.9. Among sectors, health care paced the gainers, while materials saw the steepest decline.

Fed officials indicated last month that they would want to see inflation cool further before delivering additional interest rate cuts, while saying that potential changes in trade and immigration policies could "hinder" the disinflation process, meeting minutes showed Wednesday.

The US negotiations with Russia over Ukraine are starting to generate "whispers of concern," Deutsche Bank said in a note. US President Donald Trump's announcement on Tuesday that he may impose 25% tariffs on auto, semiconductor, and pharmaceutical imports added to fears of a looming global trade war.

The two-year US Treasury yield was down 2.5 basis points at 4.27%, while the 10-year rate declined 1.1 basis points to 4.53%.

Carvana (CVNA), CF Industries (CF) and Host Hotels & Resorts (HST) are among the companies scheduled to report their latest quarterly financial results after the closing bell.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil was up 0.6% at $72.29 a barrel.