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Indexes up: Dow 2.37%, S&P 500 2.36%, Nasdaq 2.6%

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Major health insures rise after Medicare payment rate

boost

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Big bank earnings set to begin later this week

(Updates with afternoon levels)

By Shashwat Chauhan and Purvi Agarwal

April 8 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes on

Tuesday recouped some of the heavy losses clocked since last

week as technology and financials led the gains on expectations

that the U.S. would open up for negotiations on its aggressive

tariffs.

Big Tech rebounded, with Nvidia ( NVDA ) jumping 5.6% and

Microsoft ( MSFT ) adding 3%. The information technology

sub-index advanced 3.6%, leading gains among the 11

major sub-sectors.

U.S. President Donald Trump said he discussed tariffs, among

others, in a "great" call with acting South Korean President Han

Duck-soo.

Earlier in the day, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent

said in an interview to CNBC that tariff negotiations are the

result of calls from other countries, not sliding financial

markets, and China's escalation is a big mistake.

China said it will never accept the "blackmail nature" of

the U.S. to Trump's threat to ratchet up tariffs on Chinese

imports to more than 100%.

"When the perception is that markets are in a deep selloff

that creates headlines and is frightening to investors, there

comes a time when you get a relief rally," said Andre Bakhos,

managing member at Ingenium Analytics LLC.

At 11:36 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average

rose 904.04 points, or 2.37%, to 38,866.93, the S&P 500

gained 119.47 points, or 2.36%, to 5,180.43 and the Nasdaq

Composite gained 404.55 points, or 2.60%, to 16,007.81.

Stocks, however, lost some ground after United States Trade

Representative Jamieson Greer said exemptions to the global

tariffs are not expected in the near term.

The S&P 500 and the Dow are set for their biggest single-day

gain since November, if gains hold. Financials were among the

big gainers, with lender JPMorgan Chase ( JPM ) rising 4.5% and

the banks sub-index rising 3.3%.

The CBOE Volatility index - seen as Wall Street's

'fear gauge' - retreated to 40.36 points after rising on Monday

to its highest level since August last year.

Despite Tuesday's gains, the three major indexes are down

about 9% from levels seen before the reciprocal tariff

announcement on April 2.

Worries that the aggressive U.S. tariffs could spur inflation

and hamper global growth have led to greater pricing of

interest-rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.

Traders see more than 90 basis points of easing by the

December, implying three fully priced in 25-bps cuts and a 60%

chance of a fourth such a reduction, according to LSEG data.

Among other big movers, Health insurer UnitedHealth Group ( UNH )

and Humana jumped 7.1% and 11.2%, respectively,

after the U.S. announced 5.06% increase in payment rates to

private insurers for 2026 Medicare Advantage health plans.

Quarterly earnings season will kick-off later this week, with

JPMorgan ( JPM ), Morgan Stanley ( MS ) and Wells Fargo ( WFC ) set to

report on Friday.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 3.3-to-1 ratio

on the NYSE and advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a

2.25-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted no new 52-week highs and six new lows

while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 14 new highs and 95 new

lows.