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* Energy top loser among S&P 500 sectoral indexes

* Amazon, Tesla help Nasdaq outperform S&P 500, Dow

* Goodyear rises as JPM upgrades to 'overweight'

* Indexes: Dow down 0.33%, S&P off 0.05%, Nasdaq up 0.78%

Feb 14 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and the Dow slipped in volatile trading on Monday amid concerns about higher interest rates and geopolitical tensions, while a rally in chipmakers and megacap growth names helped the tech-heavy Nasdaq outperform.

Eight of the 11 major S&P sectors declined, with energy shares down 3%.

Russia suggested it was ready to keep talking to the West to try to defuse a security crisis in which it has massed a huge force within striking distance of Ukraine, while a Ukrainian official said Kyiv was prepared to make concessions.

The geopolitical tensions come at a time when investors have been reeling with the possibility of aggressive interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve to combat surging inflation.

On Monday, St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard in an interview with CNBC stuck to his call for a 100 basis point rate hike by June, saying the Fed needs to reassure to the public that it will defend its 2% inflation target.

"Right now on the geopolitical front if it's going to be discussions and no escalation then the Fed is going to take precedence," said Keith Lerner, co-chief investment officer at Truist Advisory Services.

"Both of them will remain front and center, and what happens now is you have a very headline-driven market ... so if you get a little bit of good news in these items (geopolitics and Fed), that can go a long way."

Traders priced in a 67% chance for a 50 basis point hike in March following Bullard's comments, from 56% previously, according to CME Group's Fedwatch tool.

At 12:36 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 113.89 points, or 0.33%, at 34,624.17 and the S&P 500 was down 2.30 points, or 0.05%, at 4,416.34.

The Nasdaq Composite was up 108.03 points, or 0.78%, at 13,899.18, led by megacap growth names Apple Inc, Microsoft Corp, Google-owner Alphabet Inc, Amazon.com and Tesla Inc which rose between 0.3% and 3.6%.

Advanced Micro Devices jumped 3.7% as the semiconductor designer finalized the purchase of Xilinx Inc in a record chip industry deal valued at about $50 billion.

Market participants now await producer prices data for January, and minutes from the U.S. central bank's most recent monetary policy meeting later this week.

Meanwhile, the fourth-quarter earnings season is in full swing, with profits for S&P 500 companies expected to grow 31% year-over-year, as of Friday.

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co gained 4.9% after J.P. Morgan upgraded the tire manufacturer's stock to "overweight" from "neutral".

Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 1.92-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and 1.22-to-1 on the Nasdaq.

The S&P index recorded one new 52-week high and 11 new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 21 new highs and 170 new lows. (Reporting by Devik Jain and Susan Mathew in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)