By Edward Krudy
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.
Cisco Systems Inc
The Dow's rise put the blue-chip average on pace for its first advance in seven sessions. The S&P looks set to close above lows in April after falling to a 2-month low near 1,340 on Wednesday.
"We are having a technical bounce," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Rockwell Global Capital. "Over the last two days we managed to flirt around support levels."
"Greece is not likely to depart from the euro and they will eventually form a government that will heed the requests with some minor changes in terms of growth," he said.
The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> rose 56.23 points, or 0.44 percent, at 12,891.29. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> added 7.80 points, or 0.58 percent, at 1,362.38. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> gained 4.82 points, or 0.16 percent, at 2,939.53.
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 number of Americans applying for jobless benefits fell last week, but from an upwardly revised figure from the prior week. The report follows last month's nonfarm payrolls report, which showed weak employment growth in April.
On the plus side, News Corp
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 Edward Krudy; Editing by Kenneth Barry)
