US STOCKS-Wall St ends flat as energy shares drop with oil

* Strong data puts September rate hike back in focus

* Cisco up after strong results, boosts S&P, Nasdaq

* Dow up 0.03 pct, S&P down 0.13 pct, Nasdaq down 0.21 pct (Updates to close)

By Caroline Valetkevitch

Aug 13 (Reuters) - U.S (Other OTC: UBGXF - news) . stocks finished flat on Thursday as a drop in energy shares offset a rebound in retail sales and stronger-than-expected Cisco results.

The S&P energy index dropped 1.4 percent, leading the decline in the S&P 500, as U.S. crude oil prices slid to a six-and-a-half year low.

The S&P consumer discretionary index rose 0.6 percent, the most among the major 10 S&P sectors, but it had been up more earlier.

U.S. retail sales rose in July, while the trend of weekly jobless claims pointed to a tightening job market. The data supported the view the Federal Reserve could raise interest rates as early as next month, offsetting speculation in the previous two sessions that the Fed could wait until December to raise rates after China devalued its currency.

"The market is still adjusting to the Chinese devaluation. Obviously, that's created a lot of uncertainty and people are not sure how this is going to play out," said Michael O'Rourke, chief market strategist at JonesTrading in Greenwich, Connecticut.

Cisco jumped 2.9 percent to $28.70, giving the biggest boost to the Nasdaq and the S&P 500.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 5.74 points, or 0.03 percent, to 17,408.25, the S&P 500 lost 2.66 points, or 0.13 percent, to 2,083.39 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 10.83 points, or 0.21 percent, to 5,033.56.

The S&P financial index rose 0.3 percent, after falling in the previous two sessions.

In corporate news, retailers posted mixed quarterly results.

Coty (NYSE: COTY - news) rose 2.9 percent to $28.70 after its sales beat estimates for the first time in five quarters, while Kohl's fell 8.8 percent to $56.11 after its same-store sales missed expectations.

News Corp (Other OTC: NWSAL - news) rose 7.6 percent to $15.19 after the Wall Street Journal owner's profit topped estimates, helped by cost cuts at its news business, including Dow Jones. (Additional reporting by Tanya Agrawal in Bengaluru; Editing by Meredith Mazzilli and Nick Zieminski)