* Nvidia climbs after TSMC's April sales jump

* Novavax surges on Sanofi deal

* UMich: Consumer Sentiment hits 6-month low

* Indexes: Dow up 0.18%, S&P up 0.8%, Nasdaq off 0.09%

NEW YORK, May 10 (Reuters) - Wall Street wavered on Friday, heading for a third straight weekly gain as investors parsed comments from U.S. Federal Reserve officials and looked ahead to crucial inflation data next week.

The S&P 500 and the Dow were modestly higher and the Nasdaq edged red, but all three indexes were on course to notch their third straight weekly gains, with the blue-chip Dow eyeing its largest Friday-to-Friday percentage advance since mid-December.

Commentary from several Fed officials helped set expectations as market participants looked toward next week's inflation data.

"Right now, we’re just marking time, so it's wait-and-see until we get to inflation and retail sales data next week," said Paul Nolte, market strategist at Murphy & Silvest in Elmhurst, Illinois. "We’ve got a hefty week coming up and I don't think investors are willing to really commit ahead of it."

Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic acknowledged recent clues the economy is slowing, but added the timing of rate cuts remains uncertain.

Striking a more hawkish tone, Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan said it was unclear whether monetary policy was tight enough to bring inflation down to the central bank's 2% target.

Hints of progress toward that target will come next week when the Labor Department releases its Consumer and Producer price indexes (CPI and PPI).

Analysts expect the crucial CPI report to show underlying "core" price of 3.6% year-on-year, which would be the coolest reading in over three years.

"The Fed is geared not to raise rates but cut them, so 'higher for longer' is about as dire as it's going to unless things really fall off the table," Nolte added.

On Friday, the University of Michigan's preliminary take on May Consumer Sentiment showed the mood of the American consumer has taken its biggest monthly plunge since August 2021, while near- and long-term inflation expectations heated up.

At 2:07PM ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 71.87 points, or 0.18%, to 39,459.63, the S&P 500 gained 3.94 points, or 0.08%, to 5,218.02 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 15.15 points, or 0.09%, to 16,331.11.

Of the 11 major sectors in the S&P 500, tech stocks were up most, while energy shares were the laggards.

First-quarter earnings season is approaching its finish line. Of the 459 of the companies in the S&P 500 that have reported, 77% delivered consensus-beating results, according to LSEG data.

Nvidia gained 1.3% after Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, the world's largest chipmaker and a major supplier to Nvidia, reported a near 60% jump in April sales.

Novavax shares surged 99.3% in the wake of the vaccine maker's licensing deal worth up to $1.2 billion with Sanofi.

SoundHound AI jumped 9.8% after beating first-quarter revenue estimates.

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 1.34-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.69-to-1 ratio favored decliners.

The S&P 500 posted 56 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 87 new highs and 88 new lows. (Reporting by Stephen Culp; Additional reporting by Sruthi Shankar and Shristi Achar A in Bengaluru)