Wall Street was set for a largely flat open on Thursday as investors focused on the raging conflict in Ukraine and the outlook for U.S. interest rate hikes, with the main indexes set for their worst quarter since the pandemic crash in 2020.

As of 9:43 a.m. EST, the Dow was off -0.28%, Nasdaq was down -0.47%, and the S&P 500 was down -0.23%.

Much of the optimism around the peace talks faded as Ukrainian forces prepared for fresh Russian attacks in the southeast region. The countries will resume peace talks online on April 1.

Oil majors Exxon Mobil and Chevron both fell nearly 2% in premarket trading, tracking a 5% slide in crude prices as the United States considers a record release of reserves.

Still, the S&P 500 energy index was set to record its best quarter ever as oil prices have rallied due to supply tightness from the war and fears around Western sanctions on Russia, the second largest crude exporter.

The war-induced surge in commodity prices has amplified inflation worries, while a more hawkish Federal Reserve has stoked growth concerns, together pushing the three main U.S. indexes toward their worst quarter since March 2020.

The benchmark S&P 500 index, however, has rebounded more than 5% this month on upbeat economic data and a recovery in megacap stocks.

"Investors are expecting a positive earnings season...so the market is ignoring the recession, the yield curve," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities in New York.

"It's the end of the month, end of the quarter, so you might have some last-minute portfolio switching. And, of course, the market will set itself up for tomorrow's employment data."

Ahead of Friday's closely watched jobs report, data showed U.S. consumer spending slowed significantly in February, while price pressures continued to mount, with inflation posting its largest annual gain since the early 1980s.

Another set showed jobless claims increased more than expected in the week ended March 26.

At 08:52 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 31 points, or 0.09%, S&P 500 e-minis were down 0.75 points, or 0.02%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 26.75 points, or 0.18%.

Megacap stocks Tesla Inc, Apple, Meta Platforms Inc, Amazon.com Inc, Alphabet Inc and Microsoft Corp edged up between 0.1% and 0.3%.

U.S.-listed shares of Baidu slipped 2.5% after the Chinese search engine giant said it was exploring options after it was added to a U.S. securities regulator's list of companies facing the risk of being delisted. Its streaming affiliate iQIYI dropped 10.7%.

Drugstore chain Walgreens Boots Alliance fell 3.2% after the company kept its 2022 forecast of low-single digit earnings growth unchanged.