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US health insurers drop after Medicare rates disappoint

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Crypto stocks fall as bitcoin drops

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Calvin Klein-parent PVH down after dour FY rev forecast

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Futures down: Dow 0.57%, S&P 0.40%, Nasdaq 0.46%

(Updated at 8:32 a.m. ET/ 1232 GMT)

By Sruthi Shankar and Shashwat Chauhan

April 2 (Reuters) - Wall Street was set to open lower on

Tuesday, hurt by sharp losses in health insurers and ahead of

comments from Federal Reserve policymakers and more economic

data that could offer hints on the timing of interest rate

cuts.

Shares of UnitedHealth ( UNH ), CVS Health ( CVS ) and

Humana fell between 4.6% and 10.7% in premarket trading

as the U.S. government kept reimbursement rates for providers of

Medicare Advantage health plans unchanged, signaling potential

pressure on insurers' margins next year.

The blue-chip Dow and the benchmark S&P 500

looked to extend losses, a day after stronger-than-expected

manufacturing data from the Institute for Supply Management

(ISM) raised doubts over the Fed's three interest rate cuts that

it had outlined at the last policy meeting.

"We had that upside surprise with the ISM and now people are

getting a little bit worried about another strong number this

Friday in terms of jobs," said David Russell, global head of

market strategy at TradeStation.

Investors main focus is on Friday's U.S. non-farm payrolls

data that is likely to show job additions slowed in March

although average earnings ticked higher compared to the previous

month.

New data on factory orders and job openings in February is

also expected on Tuesday.

"The idea of three cuts this year... that's sort of what

people are concerned about this week," Russell said.

Traders are pricing in a near 57% chance of the Fed cutting

interest rates by at least 25 basis points in June, as well as

see two more cuts in 2024, as per CMEGroup's FedWatch tool.

A host of Fed officials including New York Fed President

John Williams, Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester and San

Francisco President Mary Daly are scheduled to speak later in

the day.

At 8:32 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 228 points,

or 0.57%, S&P 500 e-minis were down 21.25 points, or

0.4%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 85.5 points, or

0.46%.

The subdued start to the new quarter comes on the heels of

the S&P 500's strongest first quarter in five years. The three

major indexes hit record highs last month, helped by optimism

around artificial intelligence and expectations of easing

monetary policy.

Most megacap growth stocks were trading lower, with Tesla

down 1.0% ahead of the release of its first-quarter

delivery numbers.

Calvin Klein-parent PVH Corp's shares tumbled 22.7%

after the retailer forecast an about 11% drop in first-quarter

revenue. Peer Ralph Lauren lost 4.0%.

Cryptocurrency and blockchain-related stocks dropped,

tracking an over 5% fall in bitcoin. Exchange operator

Coinbase, bitcoin investor MicroStrategy ( MSTR ) and

crypto miner Riot Platforms ( RIOT ) fell between 3.6% and 7.1%.

Estee Lauder ( EL ) gained 1.9% after Citigroup upgraded the

cosmetics giant's rating to "buy" from "neutral".