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Indexes mixed: Dow up 0.43%, S&P 500 up 0.04%, Nasdaq off

0.12%

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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 prices to afternoon trading)

By Sinéad Carew and Shashwat Chauhan

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

between red and green on Tuesday afternoon after rallying

sharply in the morning as investors' hopes ebbed for U.S. delays

or concessions on tariffs ahead of a midnight deadline.

After stocks tumbled at their fastest pace since the

pandemic in the last three days investors showed some signs of

hope early in the day that President Donald Trump would soften

his stance or postpone an April 9 deadline for tariffs.

But White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on

Tuesday afternoon that Trump expects tariffs will go into effect

while nearly 70 countries have reached out looking to begin

negotiations to reduce the impact of U.S. trade policies.

Market participants "were optimistic this morning that we

would get some sort of sign that we're moving closer to a deal

or a compromise with some of these bigger countries or that

there would be a delay coming given that so many people wanted

to negotiate," said Lindsey Bell, chief market strategist at

Clearnomics in New York.

"That doesn't seem to necessarily be the case as we are

quickly approaching the midnight deadline and investors are

losing confidence."

The White House said on Tuesday afternoon that it

expects more tariffs on China to go into effect on April 9.

This was after China had said earlier 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%.

And United States ,Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said

earlier that exemptions to the global tariffs are not expected

in the near term.

At 02:33 p.m. the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose

164.35 points, or 0.43%, to 38,129.95, the S&P 500 gained

1.91 points, or 0.04%, to 5,064.16 and the Nasdaq Composite

lost 18.48 points, or 0.12%, to 15,586.47.

Materials, down 1.8%, was the biggest loser among

the S&P 500's 11 major industry sectors. The biggest gainer was

financials, up 0.8%.

After falling as low as 36.48 points earlier in the day, the

CBOE Volatility Index - seen as Wall Street's 'fear

gauge' - was last up almost 2 points at 48. It had risen on

Monday to its highest level since August last year.

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 December,

implying three fully priced in 25-bps cuts and a 60% chance of a

fourth such reduction, according to LSEG data.

In individual stocks, Health insurer UnitedHealth Group ( UNH )

and Humana jumped 5.7% and about 9%,

respectively, after the U.S. announced a 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, Morgan Stanley ( MS ) and Wells Fargo ( WFC ) set to

report on Friday.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.17-to-1 ratio

on the NYSE where there were 4 new highs and 546 new lows.

On the Nasdaq, 1,794 stocks rose and 2,590 fell as declining

issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.44-to-1 ratio.

The S&P 500 posted no new 52-week highs and 45 new lows

while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 17 new highs and 309 new

lows.