US STOCKS-S&P 500 climbs; lifted by Cisco and tariff deal optimism

By Noel Randewich and Pranav Kashyap

May 15 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were mixed on Thursday, with gains in Cisco Systems following an upbeat forecast, while UnitedHealth tumbled after a report of a criminal investigation into the insurer.

The S&P 500 further recovered from a deep selloff in April triggered by U.S. President Donald Trump's global trade war, as investors bet Washington will reach deals to roll back steep tariffs that economists worry will drive up consumer prices.

"People think there are going to be deals, so they are just getting ahead of that, and they don't want to be short stocks. 'Deal anticipation' is what I'd call it," said Dennis Dick, a trader at Triple D Trading.

Cisco Systems jumped almost 6% after the networking company raised its annual forecast, driven by the artificial intelligence boom.

AI chipmaker Broadcom AVGO.O added about 0.5%.

UnitedHealth Group UNH.N plunged 13% to a five-year low after the Wall Street Journal reported the U.S. Department of Justice was conducting a criminal investigation into the company for possible Medicare fraud. UnitedHealth said it had not been informed of a criminal probe by federal prosecutors.

Rival health insurer Humana HUM.N lost about 3% and Molina Healthcare MOH.N dipped 1%.

Walmart WMT.N eased 1% after the heavyweight retailer warned it would start raising prices later this month due to tariffs, even after its first-quarter U.S. comparable sales beat expectations.

Rival retailer Amazon AMZN.O dropped 2.6% and weighed on the Nasdaq.

Walmart declined to provide a second-quarter profit outlook, joining other companies across sectors that have tweaked or pulled their forecasts, signaling that corporate America is hunkering down due to tariff-related uncertainty.

The S&P 500 was up 0.34% at 5,912.79 points.

The Nasdaq declined 0.02% to 19,142.20 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.41% at 42,222.44 points.

Following its recent rebound, the S&P 500 remains about 4% below its record high close on February 19.

The S&P 500 energy sector index .SPNY dipped 0.4% as oil prices slid around 3% on expectations of a U.S.-Iran nuclear deal that could result in sanctions easing.

Earlier in the day, data showed U.S. retail sales growth slowed in April, while a separate report showed producer prices unexpectedly fell last month. That followed a relatively tame consumer price reading earlier in the week.

"Despite the de-escalation with China, the trade story isn't over and it's still going to take time for tariffs to make themselves felt in economic data," said Ellen Zentner, chief economic strategist for Morgan Stanley Wealth Management.

Advancing issues outnumbered falling ones within the S&P 500 .AD.SPX by a 2.1-to-one ratio.

The S&P 500 posted 12 new highs and six new lows. The Nasdaq recorded 44 new highs and 104 new lows.