* March CPI rises 3.3%, in line with estimates

* Consumer sentiment tumbles to record low

* CoreWeave ( CRWV ) gains after deal with Anthropic

*

(Updates to market close)

By Stephen Culp and Purvi Agarwal

NEW YORK, April 10 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks closed mixed

on Friday, with investors pressing pause as they headed into the

weekend and kept an eye on ongoing Middle East peace

negotiations.

A closely watched inflation report showed consumer price

growth accelerated as expected, due to price pressures arising

from the war on Iran.

The Dow and the S&P 500 ended lower, while tech stocks

boosted the Nasdaq to gains on the session as

investors assessed unfolding developments in the Middle East.

The fragile two-week truce has been threatened by claimed

violations of the ceasefire. These included Israel's continued

bombardment of Lebanon, even as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin

Netanyahu said he was seeking direct talks with Beirut.

The vital Strait of Hormuz was kept closed by Iran, which

demanded a ceasefire in Lebanon and the unfreezing of assets as

a condition to resuming negotiations.

The week began on an ominous note, with U.S. President

Donald Trump threatening to destroy "an entire civilization" if

Iran failed to comply with his demands. But as a truce began to

take shape, stocks rallied.

All three indexes scored weekly gains.

"Traders are pretty hesitant to have exposure going into a

long weekend where there's going to be an Iran-U.S.

negotiation," said Jed Ellerbroek, portfolio manager at Argent

Capital Management in St. Louis, Missouri. "Investors are

expecting a lot of news and the market being closed for 2-1/2

days is a long time for things to change."

"For that reason, there is this recent trend over the last

month-and-a-half, where the market does well on Mondays,

Tuesdays, and Wednesdays, and it does poorly on Thursdays and

Fridays," Ellerbroek added.

The Labor Department's consumer price index (CPI), the first

major inflation indicator released since the onset of the war,

showed consumer prices logged their largest monthly jump in

nearly four years due to an expected spike in energy prices,

which prompted a 21.2% surge at the gasoline pump.

Core CPI, which strips out food and energy, was cooler than

analysts anticipated. Still, the shock from spiking crude prices

is likely to be felt more acutely in the coming months.

On Thursday, San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly told

Reuters the oil shock from the Iran war would extend the

timeline on bringing inflation back to the U.S. central bank's

2% target.

A separate report from the University of Michigan showed

consumer sentiment plunged this month to a record low, while

near-term expectations dropped to their lowest level since May

1980.

According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 lost 6.76

points, or 0.10%, to end at 6,817.90 points, while the Nasdaq

Composite gained 78.64 points, or 0.35%, to 22,901.06.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 282.62 points, or

0.59%, to 47,903.18.

Chipmakers took the lead, touching a record high.

Financial stocks underperformed ahead of major U.S.

banks posting earnings next week, marking the unofficial start

of first-quarter reporting season. Analysts currently predict

aggregate year-on-year S&P 500 earnings growth of 13.9%,

according to LSEG.

"Hopefully earnings season might switch at least some of the

narrative back to corporate fundamentals, which is really what

the stock market's all about," said Tim Ghriskey, senior

portfolio strategist at Ingalls & Snyder in New York.

U.S.-listed shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing ( TSM )

, the world's largest contract chipmaker, rose after it

beat first-quarter revenue forecasts.

CoreWeave ( CRWV ) surged following its announcement of a

multi-year agreement with Anthropic.