Wall Street rises as Cisco lags

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks advanced modestly on Thursday as investors snapped up shares at beaten-down prices after a weak stretch, but tech bellwether Cisco Systems' disappointing outlook limited gains.

In a positive development, euro-zone officials said the bloc's countries are prepared to keep financing Greece until the country forms a new government, either after Sunday's election or if new elections are needed next month.

The latest uncertainty surrounding Greece and the euro zone's sovereign debt crisis helped spark a drop in the S&P 500 in five of the past six sessions, sending the benchmark index down nearly 4 percent. While the region's difficulties persisted with the political gridlock in Greece, investors used the market's declines as a buying opportunity.

"You are seeing traders and investors come into some of these very oversold sectors and buying on the dips. Then suddenly, the people who are scared decide to start selling into it," said Paul Mendelsohn, chief investment strategist at Windham Financial Services in Charlotte, Vermont.

"That is what you are seeing today, you are seeing the see-saw between people who are coming in, and adding positions slowly and people who are saying, 'the world is coming to an end, I want out.'"

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 65.43 points, or 0.51 percent, to 12,900.49. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 8.03 points, or 0.59 percent, to 1,362.61. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 7.25 points, or 0.25 percent, to 2,941.96.

The Dow's rise put the blue-chip average on pace for its first advance in seven sessions.

The number of Americans applying for jobless benefits fell last week, offering a glimmer of hope that the deterioration in the labor market was easing after April's weak employment growth.

Cisco Systems Inc dropped 9.7 percent to $16.95, its biggest percentage drop since February 2011, making it the biggest drag on the Dow, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 indexes. The network equipment maker forecast profits below Wall Street's estimates. The NYSEArca networking index dropped 2.3 percent.

On the plus side, News Corp rose after its profit beat expectations late Wednesday and it announced a $5 billion stock buyback. Its stock climbed 6 percent to $20.54.

With 449 of the S&P 500 companies reporting results through Thursday morning, 66.4 percent exceeded estimates, according to Thomson Reuters data, compared with more than 80 percent at the start of earnings season.

(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Jan Paschal)