By Amy Caren Daniel
(Reuters) - U.S. stock indexes rose about 1 percent on Thursday, helped by upbeat earnings from Walmart and Cisco and easing trade worries after the United States and China said they would hold talks later this month.
Walmart shares (N:WMT) surged 10.2 percent, the most on the S&P 500, after the retailer said U.S. comparable sales grew the most in a decade and posted strong e-commerce sales.
The S&P retailers index <.SPXRT> gained 0.81 percent. All of the 11 major S&P sectors were higher, with technology stocks (SPLRCT) up 0.92 percent.
Cisco (O:CSCO) rose 3.7 percent after posting quarterly results and first-quarter sales forecast that topped Wall Street expectations.
Symantec (O:SYMC) jumped 7.1 percent after hedge fund Starboard Value disclosed a stake in the cyber-security firm and nominated five directors to its board.
"When you have a solid earnings backdrop it makes it easier for investors to digest some of the bad news as it comes up," said Shawn Cruz, manager of trader strategy at TD Ameritrade in Chicago.
"The news of China coming back to the negotiating table is providing relief and you are starting to see markets stabilize a little bit."
Industrials (SPLRCI) rose 1.4 percent on hopes that Beijing and Washington may resolve a conflict that has roiled financial markets since early March.
Boeing (N:BA) rose 4.2 percent, also gaining on a bullish outlook by brokerage firm UBS.
Also helping was a dip in the dollar as well as a rally in the lira
That eased concerns about U.S. lenders' exposure to Turkey and sent the KBW bank index (BKX) up 1.72 percent.
At 12:18 a.m. EDT the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) was up 426.99 points, or 1.70 percent, at 25,589.40, the S&P 500 (SPX) was up 31.81 points, or 1.13 percent, at 2,850.18 and the Nasdaq Composite (IXIC) was up 74.70 points, or 0.96 percent, at 7,848.82.
Second-quarter earnings have been stronger than expected, with 79.3 percent of the 463 S&P 500 that have reported so far beating analyst expectations, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Department store chains were largely sitting out the rally, stung by Macy's (N:M) warning on margins on Wednesday and JC Penney's weak results and lowered forecast.
Penney (N:JCP), not on the S&P 500, slumped 24.5 percent. Nordstrom (N:JWN), which is due to report after the bell, was trading marginally higher.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 4.15-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 3.16-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 29 new 52-week highs and two new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 67 new highs and 46 new lows.