US STOCKS-Market pauses after runup; financials weak

                                
 * Mid-Atlantic business activity tops consensus
                                
 * Shares of financials down
                                
 * S&P down 0.1 pct, Dow flat, Nasdaq down 0.2 pct
                                
 * For up-to-the-minute market news, click STXNEWS/US
 (Updates to late afternoon)
                                
 By Caroline Valetkevitch
                                
 NEW YORK, Sept 17 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were little
changed in choppy trading on Thursday as investors paused after
an extended period of gains, expressing worries about a
pullback.
                                
 Shares of financials, which had led recent gains, were
losing ground. American Express <AXP.N> was down 1.8 percent at
$35.21 and was among the top drags on the Dow.
                                
 Weighing on the Nasdaq was Oracle Corp <ORCL.O>, which fell
2.3 percent to $21.62 a day after reporting first-quarter
revenue that missed expectations. [ID:nN16146835]
                                
 Data showed factory activity in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic
region rose in September to its highest level since June 2007,
underscoring hopes that the economic recovery was on track. For
details, see [ID:nN17191275].
                                
 "We're extremely overbought and extremely susceptible to a
pullback," said Stephen Massocca, managing director of Wedbush
Morgan in San Francisco. "But there's been nothing but a
barrage of positive news."
                                
 The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> was up 3.09 points,
or 0.03 percent, at 9,794.80. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index
<.SPX> was down 1.54 points, or 0.14 percent, at 1,067.22. The
Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> was down 3.26 points, or 0.15
percent, at 2,129.89.
                                
 In other data, new construction of U.S. homes and permits
for future building scaled a nine-month high in August, and the
number of people filing new claims for jobless benefits fell
last week, proof a recovery was under way.
                                
 But investors focused on a drop in single-family units
groundbreaking activity. U.S. government bond prices rose.
                                
 On Wednesday, Wall Street hit 2009 highs on optimism about
a global recovery. Stocks have risen eight of the last nine
sessions on strong data and a pickup in merger and acquisition
activity. The S&P 500 is up 58 percent since March lows.
                                
 Shares of American Airlines' parent, AMR Corp <AMR.N>, rose
19.6 percent to $8.79 after the company said it had raised $2.9
billion and would shift flying to more profitable routes.
                                
 Shipping company Fedex Corp <FDX.N> , considered an
economic bellwether, slid 2.1 percent to $76.53 after it
reported first-quarter earnings that fell 53 percent from the
prior year. The company also said it was planning rate
increases to offset falling surcharge revenue.[ID:nN08250192]
[ID:nN17191059]
 (Editing by Kenneth Barry)