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* JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, Citigroup rise on Q3 profit beat

* S&P 500, Dow eye weekly gains

* U Mich's preliminary consumer sentiment index at 63 vs 67.2 est

* Indexes mixed: Dow up 0.28%, S&P down 0.26%, Nasdaq down 0.97%

Oct 13 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq fell on Friday, as a decline in megacap stocks overshadowed upbeat quarterly earnings from some of the largest U.S. banks.

JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Citigroup rose between 2.5% and 3.4% after their quarterly profits trounced analysts' estimates, helped by higher interest rates.

The S&P 500 Banks index gained 1.9%, hitting a three-week high intraday.

Megapcaps including Apple, Alphabet, Tesla, Nvidia, Amazon.com and Meta Platforms slid between 0.9% and 2.3%.

A preliminary reading on U.S. consumer sentiment that showed a sharp fall in October also pressured equities.

Meanwhile, safe-haven U.S. Treasuries rallied on Friday as investors kept a tab on developments in the conflict in the Middle East that has unnerved markets since the start of the week.

Other traditional safe-haven assets such as gold were also trading higher.

Countries have urged Israel to hold off on plans for an all-out assault on northern Gaza, where more than a million civilians largely defied its order to evacuate before it goes after Hamas militants who slaughtered Israelis a week ago.

"The tragic events that are going on in the Middle East at the moment have the potential to disregard (current market trends) because if we see an escalation there, then there's a chance for a further rally in risk-free assets," said Niall O' Sullivan, chief investment officer multi-asset strategies EMEA at Neuberger Berman.

Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia President Patrick Harker said he believes the central bank is likely done with its rate-hiking cycle amid waning price pressures.

At 12:21 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 95.34 points, or 0.28%, at 33,726.48, the S&P 500 was down 11.34 points, or 0.26%, at 4,338.27, and the Nasdaq Composite was down 131.31 points, or 0.97%, at 13,442.91.

The energy sector tracked a more than 3% jump in crude prices and led the gains among major S&P 500 sectors. It was also poised to be the top weekly performer.

The S&P 500 and the Dow eyed weekly gains despite recent weakness.

Among stocks, asset manager BlackRock dipped 1.1% after posting a sharp drop in third-quarter net inflows.

UnitedHealth advanced 2.2% after beating third-quarter profit estimates.

Dollar General added 10.2% after the discount store retailer brought back former CEO Todd Vasos to replace Chief Executive Jeffery Owen.

Boeing shed 3.1% after the planemaker and Spirit AeroSystems expanded the scope of their ongoing inspections of a production defect affecting 737 Max 8 aircraft. Spirit's shares were down 1.2%.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 1.17-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and a 1.49-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P index recorded 11 new 52-week highs and 14 new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 25 new highs and 252 new lows. (Reporting by Shashwat Chauhan and Ankika Biswas in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta, Anil D'Silva and Shinjini Ganguli)