* US health insurers jump after Medicare Advantage

payment hike

* Apple ( AAPL ) drops after report foldable phones facing

setbacks

* Broadcom ( AVGO ) rises on deal to develop Google's AI chips

(Updates to market close)

By Stephen Culp and Purvi Agarwal

NEW YORK, April 7 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks ended mixed on

Tuesday amid signs of progress in negotiations as the minutes

ticked down to President Donald Trump's deadline for Iran to

open the Strait of Hormuz.

All three major U.S. stock indexes pared during the last hour of

trading when Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on X

that diplomatic efforts for peaceful settlement of the ongoing

war in the Middle East were progressing steadily while he urged

Trump to extend his Iran deadline for two weeks and requested

that Iran open the Strait for the same timeframe as a goodwill

gesture.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq snapped their respective winning

streaks after four straight days of gains.

"Investors are calibrating as they try to read into the

president's messaging and predict the degree (to which) he will

follow through with some of his rhetoric in terms of the

ultimatum," said Matthew Keator, managing partner in the Keator

Group, a wealth management firm in Lenox, Massachusetts. "How

much of it is posturing, and how much of it is telegraphing what

he will actually do?"

"Investors need to make sure that they make whatever

necessary adjustments for their personal circumstances," Keator

added.

While attacks on Iran intensified, the country had not yet

allowed traffic to resume through the crucial Strait of Hormuz

waterway, despite Trump's threats if a deal is not reached by

the end of Tuesday.

Oil prices have surged since the United States and Israel

declared war on Iran on February 28, rattling markets, igniting

fears of rising inflation and dampening hopes that the U.S.

Federal Reserve will cut interest rates this year.

Front month U.S. WTI crude backed off from session

highs to settle up 0.5%, while Brent crude settled down

0.5%.

Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee said he was worried

that the war would drive inflation higher while dampening the

economy, resulting in a stagflationary shock and putting the

central bank in a bind.

On the economic front, a report from the Commerce Department

showed new orders for durable goods decreased more than analysts

expected in February, before the onset of the war.

Later in the week, the Labor Department's consumer price

index (CPI) will provide a glimpse at the extent to which the

war on Iran has affected inflation.

According to preliminary data, the S&P 500

gained 6.09 points, or 0.09%, to end at 6,617.92 points,

while the Nasdaq Composite gained 28.46 points, or

0.13%, to 22,024.80. The Dow Jones Industrial Average

fell 78.54 points, or 0.17%, to 46,591.34.

UnitedHealth ( UNH ) jumped and peers Humana and CVS

Health ( CVS ) advanced after the U.S. government announced on

Monday it would raise payments to private insurers offering

Medicare Advantage plans to older adults, an increase from the

near-flat change proposed earlier.

Shares of Apple ( AAPL ) dropped after Nikkei Asia reported

that the gadget maker's long-awaited foldable phone is

encountering engineering setbacks.

Chipmaker Broadcom rose after signing a long-term deal

with Alphabet to develop its AI chips and other

components.

Intel ( INTC ) rose after the company said it would join Elon

Musk's Terafab AI chip complex project along with SpaceX, Tesla

and xAI.