US STOCKS-Wall St gains on upbeat earnings, strong economic data

(For a live blog on the U.S. stock market, click LIVE/ or
type LIVE/ in a news window.)
* U.S. adds China's Huawei to trade blacklist
* Walmart gains after comp sales beat
* Cisco rises on upbeat sales forecast
* Yields rise, lift interest-rate sensitive banks
* Indexes up: Dow 0.69%, S&P 0.76%, Nasdaq 0.73%

(Updates to open)
By Amy Caren Daniel
May 16 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose on Thursday as upbeat
earnings from Walmart and Cisco, and robust domestic economic
data helped investors overlook worries about the ongoing trade
war between the United States and China.
Walmart Inc WMT.N rose 3.3% after it reported its best
first-quarter same-store sales growth in nine years. The big box
retailer also said prices for shoppers will rise due to higher
tariffs on Chinese imports. Fellow Dow component Cisco Systems Inc CSCO.O gained 5.2%
on an upbeat sales forecast and after the network gear maker
said minimal sales exposure to China and changes to its supply
chains have helped cushion the impact from trade dispute.
"Strong results from Cisco will spillover to tech names,
which are likely to be beneficiaries from the earnings," said
Michael James, managing director of equity trading at Wedbush
Securities in Los Angeles.
"Economic strength will help investors look past any kind of
issues and I do not expect any kind of sharp pull backs."
The Commerce Department said U.S. homebuilding increased
more than expected in April, suggesting declining mortgage rates
were starting to provide some support to the struggling housing
market. Another report showed the number of Americans seeking
unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week,
pointing to sustained labor market strength that should underpin
the economy as growth slows. Strong economic data lifted U.S. Treasury yields and helped
the interest rate sensitive banking sector .SPXBK rise 1.30%.
The broader financial sector gained 1.4%, the most among the S&P
sectors.
Investors have also been closely monitoring trade-related
news, which has been mixed so far. Washington said it was adding
Huawei Technologies Co HWT.UL to its "Entity List", in a move
that bans it from acquiring components and technology from U.S.
firms without prior approval. Trade concerns have dented a rally in stocks this year and
has put the benchmark index about 3% below its all-time high
that it hit just two-weeks ago.
However, U.S. stock indexes posted gains in the previous two
sessions on hopes the protracted trade dispute that has
threatened global growth could be resolved, as the two sides
were expected to resume talks in Beijing soon.
At 9:51 a.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was
up 176.96 points, or 0.69%, at 25,824.98. The S&P 500 .SPX was
up 21.66 points, or 0.76%, at 2,872.62 and the Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC was up 57.46 points, or 0.73%, at 7,879.61.
The Philadelphia Semiconductor index .SOX fell 1.61%,
dragged down by losses in Huawei suppliers Qualcomm Inc QCOM.O
and Broadcom Inc AVGO.O , Xilinx Inc XLNX.O , Skyworks
Solutions Inc SWKS.O .
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 3.08-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and a 2.01-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 25 new 52-week highs and no new low,
while the Nasdaq recorded 45 new highs and 17 new lows.