US STOCKS-Wall Street gains on upbeat data, firming yuan

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* Symantec up as Broadcom in talks to buy its unit- report
* AMD up on landing Alphabet, Twitter as customers
* Lyft rises after raising FY forecast; boosts Uber
* CenturyLink down after revenue misses estimates
* Indexes up: Dow 0.32%, S&P 0.58%, Nasdaq 0.63%

(Updates to open)
By Medha Singh
Aug 8 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose on Thursday as
better-than-expected domestic and Chinese data as well as a
steadying yuan offered some comfort to investors rattled by an
escalation in trade tensions.
However, the consumer staples sector .SPLRCS came under
pressure after Kraft Heinz Co KHC.O shares tumbled 15% as the
packaged food maker pulled its full-year forecast and wrote down
the value of several business units by over $1 billion.
Markets have been roiled this week on worries of an
escalating trade war after a slide in yuan on Monday was
perceived as China's retaliation to President Donald Trump's
latest threat of imposing a fresh round of tariffs on Chinese
imports.
The yuan regained some ground on Thursday as China's central
bank set its official midpoint firmer than market expectations,
signaling an intent to stabilize a decline in the currency.
Exports from the world's second-largest economy posted a
surprise rise, while imports fell less than forecast. CNY/
Domestic data also pointed to a robust labor market as the
number of Americans filing applications for unemployment
benefits unexpectedly fell last week, allaying some worries
about a recession and helping U.S. Treasury yields rise.
US/
"It's (data) very reassuring for investors because that
shows the economics of the world aren't degrading rapidly," said
Kim Forrest, chief investment officer at Bokeh Capital Partners
in Pittsburgh.
The benchmark S&P 500 .SPX index is looking at its third
day of gains but still stands about 4.4% away from its record
closing high hit last month.
At 9:44 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was
up 83.38 points, or 0.32%, at 26,090.45, the S&P 500 was up
16.82 points, or 0.58%, at 2,900.80. The Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC was up 49.73 points, or 0.63%, at 7,912.56.
Symantec Corp SYMC.O shares jumped 9.4% after sources said
chipmaker Broadcom Inc AVGO.O was in advanced talks to buy the
cybersecurity company's enterprise business. Advanced Micro Devices Inc AMD.O gained 9.8% after the
chipmaker launched its second generation of its processor chip
for data centers and said that it had landed Alphabet Inc's
GOOGL.O Google and Twitter Inc TWTR.N as customers.
Symantec and AMD were the best performing stocks on the S&P
500.
Lyft Inc LYFT.O advanced 4.3% after the ride hailing
service raised its outlook for the year and forecast a faster
path to profitability. Rival Uber Technologies Inc UBER.N , due
to report quarterly results after the bell, rose
4.2%. Shares of Walt Disney Co DIS.N rose 1.6% after Credit
Suisse upgraded its shares to "outperform" on positive investor
sentiment as its video streaming service Disney+ closes in on
its U.S. launch.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 3.23-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and by a 3.03-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded nine new 52-week highs and two new
lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 31 new highs and 35 new lows.