US STOCKS-Wall St rises after strong retail sales data, Walmart earnings

* Walmart gains after Q2 comp sales beat
* Cisco tumbles after forecast disappoints
* U.S. retail sales surge in July in boost to economy
* Indexes up: Dow 0.23%, S&P 0.28%, Nasdaq 0.13%

(Updates to open)
By Amy Caren Daniel
Aug 15 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose in choppy trading on
Thursday, as strong July retail sales data and Walmart's upbeat
results eased some fears about the economy slipping into
recession, but a slump in shares of network gear maker Cisco
limited gains.
Cisco Systems Inc CSCO.O dropped 6.2% and was the biggest
drag on all three major indexes, after the Dow component blamed
the bruising U.S.-China trade war for poor quarterly forecasts.
The bounce on Wall Street comes a day after the blue-chip
Dow index posted its worst day this year, as recession fears
gripped the market following the inversion of the U.S. Treasury
yield curve for the first time in 12 years. US/
"It doesn't matter where we are right now. The number of
variables affecting this market are increasing," said Andre
Bakhos, managing director at New Vines Capital LLC in
Bernardsville, New Jersey
The Commerce Department said retail sales rose 0.7% in July,
well above expectations of a 0.3% rise, as consumers bought a
range of goods even as they cut back on motor vehicle purchases.
"The July number shows that the weakest economic data that
people keep pointing out to for a global slowdown is coming from
outside the U.S. not inside the U.S.," said Randy Frederick,
vice president of trading and derivatives for Charles Schwab in
Austin.
Walmart Inc WMT.N shares rose 5.3% after the retailer
reported second-quarter U.S. comparable sales that beat
estimates and boosted its earnings forecast for the year.

The company's strong report lifted the consumer staples
sector .SPLRCS up 0.98%, the most among the S&P sectors.
At 9:53 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was
up 58.86 points, or 0.23%, at 25,538.28 and the S&P 500 .SPX
was up 7.86 points, or 0.28%, at 2,848.46. The Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC was up 10.42 points, or 0.13%, at 7,784.36.
Keeping investors on edge were mixed reports on trade.
China's finance ministry said it would retaliate to the
latest U.S. tariffs. However, a spokeswoman for the ministry
later said, "We hope the U.S. will meet China halfway, and
implement the consensus of the two heads of the two countries in
Osaka." Trade worries have plagued financial markets for at least a
year, fuelling fears of recession and prompting traders to raise
their bets on three rate cuts this year, including one in
September.
The benchmark S&P 500 .SPX is now about 6% away from its
all-time high hit in July.
Industrial stocks .SPLRCI were the biggest drag on Wall
Street, pressured by a 7.8% fall in shares of General Electric
GE.N after a whistleblower in the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme
case alleged that company financial filings masked the depths of
its problems. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.41-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and by a 1.22-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded no new 52-week highs and 40 new lows,
while the Nasdaq recorded six new highs and 111 new lows.