* Indexes down: Dow 0.36%, S&P 500 0.30%, Nasdaq 0.45%

* 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 mid-afternoon)

By Stephen Culp and Purvi Agarwal

NEW YORK, April 7 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were lower on

Tuesday as investors steeled themselves ahead of President

Donald Trump's deadline for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz.

All three major U.S. stock indexes were well off session

lows as markets awaited signs of progress in ongoing

negotiations.

Even so, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq remained on track to

snap their respective four-day streaks of gains.

"Clearly, markets are focused on the looming deadline put

forward by the administration for 8 o'clock this evening," said

Bill Northey, senior investment director at U.S. Bank Wealth

Management in Billings, Montana. "Markets are seeking some

degree of clarity regarding an escalation or an offramp."

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, and was last up 1.1%.

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.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 167.41 points,

or 0.36%, to 46,502.47, the S&P 500 lost 19.56 points, or

0.30%, to 6,592.27 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 100.19

points, or 0.45%, to 21,896.15.

Of the 11 major sectors of the S&P 500, consumer staples

were down the most, while communication services

enjoyed the largest percentage gains.

Dow Transports were clear outperformers on the day.

UnitedHealth ( UNH ) jumped 10.5% and peers Humana and

CVS Health ( CVS ) gained 8.8% and 6.6%, respectively, 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 2.7% after Nikkei Asia

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

encountering engineering setbacks.

Chipmaker Broadcom advanced 5.2% after signing a

long-term deal with Alphabet to develop its AI chips

and other components.

Intel ( INTC ) gained 2.9% after the company said it would

join Elon Musk's Terafab AI chip complex project along with

SpaceX, Tesla and xAI.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.5-to-1 ratio

on the NYSE. There were 73 new highs and 59 new lows on the

NYSE.

On the Nasdaq, 1,776 stocks rose and 2,842 fell as declining

issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.6-to-1 ratio.

The S&P 500 posted 2 new 52-week highs and 6 new lows while

the Nasdaq Composite recorded 46 new highs and 103 new lows.