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* US retail sales beat expectations in September

* Dollar Tree up on brokerage rating upgrade

* BofA profit rises, Goldman Sachs profit plunges in Q3

* Johnson & Johnson raises 2023 profit forecast

* Futures down: Dow 0.23%, S&P 0.49%, Nasdaq 0.78%

Oct 17 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes were set to open lower on Tuesday as hotter-than-expected retail sales data stoked worries U.S. interest rates could stay higher for longer, with the Middle East conflict further denting sentiment.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Israel's "genocide" of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip should stop immediately, state TV reported, sparking concerns the conflict could escalate.

U.S. President Joe Biden is set to visit Israel on Wednesday, after Washington said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had agreed to allow humanitarian aid to reach Gazans

U.S. retail sales rose 0.7% in September, compared with estimates of a 0.3% rise, according to economists polled by Reuters, as households boosted purchases of motor vehicles and spent more at restaurants and bars, suggesting the economy ended the third quarter on a strong note.

"This is a persistent story ... you can never bet against the U.S. consumer, and this is evidence of it," said Thomas Hayes, chairman at Great Hill Capital.

Long-dated U.S. Treasury yields extended their advance after the data, pushing megacap stocks Apple, Alphabet and Amazon.com down between 0.6% and 1.2% in premarket trading.

On the earnings front, Bank of America gained 1.6% as it joined rivals in earning more from interest payments by its customers, while investment banking and trading fared better than expected.

Goldman Sachs third-quarter profit dropped less than expected as a nascent recovery in dealmaking offset its $864 million writedown related to GreenSky fintech business and investments in real estate. Its shares inched up 0.2%.

All three major U.S. stock indexes had advanced in the previous session on optimism over corporate earnings.

"People continue to underestimate the strength of the economy, they continue to underestimate the strength of the consumer and there's nowhere better to reflect that than in bank earnings which have just been off the charts," Hayes added.

Third-quarter earnings for S&P 500 companies are expected to increase 2.2% year-on-year, compared with a 1.3% rise expected a week earlier, as per LSEG data.

Several Federal Reserve officials are set to speak during the day, including New York's John Williams, Richmond's Thomas Barkin, Minneapolis' Neel Kashkari and Board Governor Michelle Bowman.

At 8:53 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 77 points, or 0.23%, S&P 500 e-minis had lost 21.5 points, or 0.49%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis had fallen 118.5 points, or 0.78%.

Nvida dipped over 3% after the Biden administration said it plans to halt shipments of advanced artificial intelligence chips to China.

Chipmakers Advanced Micro Devices, Marvell Technology, Qualcomm and Arm Holdings fell between 1.5% and 2.4%

Pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson added 0.6% after raising its 2023 profit forecast.

NetScout Systems dropped 21.3% after the enterprise software firm lowered its 2024 revenue and profit forecasts.

Dollar Tree rose 2.1% after Goldman Sachs upgraded the discount retail chain's stock to "buy" from "neutral".

Bank of New York Mellon edged up 0.7% after beating third-quarter profit estimates. (Reporting by Ankika Biswas and Shashwat Chauhan in Bengaluru; Editing by Vinay Dwivedi)