New York, Aug 16 (IANS): US stocks closed mixed as Wall Street digested a batch of mixed data.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 99.97 points, or 0.39 per cent, to 25,579.39 on Thursday. The S&P 500 increased 7.00 points, or 0.25 per cent, to 2,847.60. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 7.32 points, or 0.09 per cent, to 7,766.62, Xinhua reported.

Shares of Walmart rose over 6.11 percent, after the US retail corporation posted second-quarter earnings that topped Wall Street estimates. The retailer also raised its outlook for the full-year sales and earnings.

Seven of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors traded higher around market close with the consumer staples sector up over 1.5 per cent, leading the gainers.

On the economic front, US consumers' spending increased in July, as retail and food services sales rose 0.7 per cent to US $523.5 billion, following an increase of 0.3 per cent in June, said US Census Bureau.

Such gains were shown in various sectors last month, including online retail, grocery stores, clothing retail and electronics and appliance stores.

Business activity in New York State and the Philadelphia region both reported growth in August, according to the latest Empire State Manufacturing Survey and the Philadelphia Fed Business Outlook Survey released on Thursday.

US initial jobless claims climbed more than expected last week, reaching 220,000, an increase of 9,000 from the previous week, said the Labor Department.

However, US industrial production declined 0.2 per cent in July, the US Federal Reserve reported. Manufacturing output also decreased 0.4 per cent last month, with durables, nondurables, and other manufacturing (publishing and logging) all posting decreases.