US STOCKS-S&P gains as investors juggle pandemic fears with recovery prospects

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* Cisco rises as profit, revenue top estimates
* Jobless claims 7-week tally tops 36 mln
* Indexes: Dow up 0.68%, S&P up 0.22%, Nasdaq off 0.21%

(Updates to late afternoon, changes dateline, byline)
By Stephen Culp
May 14 (Reuters) - The S&P edged higher on Thursday as
investors weighed the prospect of additional stimulus and states
reopening for business against bellicose remarks from President
Donald Trump about U.S.-China trade negotiations and dire
warnings from a whistleblower about the U.S. response to the
coronavirus pandemic.
The Dow joined the S&P in the black, while tech shares held
the Nasdaq in negative territory.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court struck down the governor's
lockdown orders, fueling hopes that mandated restrictions could
be lifted sooner rather than later. But an ousted health official testified before a U.S. House
of Representatives panel that the United States could face "the
darkest winter" if its response to the pandemic failed to
improve. Comments by Trump late Wednesday blamed China for the
coronavirus outbreak and revived trade war fears, even as
mandated lockdowns continue to damage the economy. USIMP=ECI
That damage was in evidence in a report from the U.S. Labor
Department, which showed just under 3 million new jobless claims
last week, pushing the seven-week tally well over 36 million.
"Going forward, we're looking at how quickly jobs are going
to come back to the economy," said Charlie Ripley, senior market
strategist for Allianz Investment Management in Minneapolis.
"And we're not going to get a clear picture of that until we see
where consumer demand is at."
A White House spokeswoman said President Trump is open to
another possible stimulus bill, which could further support
economic recovery. Economic and fiscal stimulus is keeping buyers in the
market, said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA in New
York wrote in a research note.
In a research note, Moya wrote "The economic outlook will
remain uncertain until a vaccine is in place, but a complete
selloff is unlikely when trillions of dollars keep getting put
into the economy."
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 157.61 points,
or 0.68%, to 23,405.58, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 6.31 points,
or 0.22%, to 2,826.31 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped
18.64 points, or 0.21%, to 8,844.53.
Of the 11 major sectors in the S&P 500, seven were higher,
led by financial .SPSY and energy .SPNY stocks.
First-quarter earnings season is on the final stretch, with
451 of the companies in the S&P 500 having reported. Of those,
66.7% have beaten consensus, according to Refinitiv data.
In aggregate, earnings for the first three months of the
year are seen falling by 12.1% from the year-ago quarter, a
stark reversal from the 6.3% annual growth seen on Jan. 1.
Cisco Systems Inc CSCO.O rose 4.2% after its earnings
beat, driven by a jump in demand for its work-from-home
networking equipment. Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a
1.61-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 2.01-to-1 ratio favored decliners.
The S&P 500 posted four new 52-week highs and 16 new lows;
the Nasdaq Composite recorded 18 new highs and 110 new lows.