US STOCKS-Wall St set to open lower on profit taking

                                
 * Futures point lower after Monday's surge
                                
 * Energy shares weighed by lower oil prices
                                
 * S&P, Dow futures off 0.9 pct, Nasdaq futures off 0.6 pct
                                
 For up-to-the-minute market news, click [STXNEWS/US]
  (Adds details)
                                
 By Leah Schnurr
                                
 NEW YORK, March 24 (Reuters) - Wall Street was poised for a
lower open on Tuesday the day after markets surged, as
investors assessed a raft of recent moves to shore up the
struggling economy and soft oil prices weighed on energy
shares.
                                
 On Monday, U.S. stocks surged around 7 percent after the
Obama administration unveiled details of a plan to clean toxic
assets off bank balance sheets, lifting a major weight off the
market and giving bank shares their best day in at least 16
years.
                                
 "We probably went a little bit too far too fast yesterday
in all that euphoria that was created," said Paul Mendelsohn,
chief investment strategist at Windham Financial Services, in
Charlotte, Vermont.
                                
 "You've got a lot of people out there who don't trust this
rally and are going to jump in here and take profits fairly
quickly ... I think we've got more room to run but we're not
going to do it in one straight shot."
                                
 Investors will also be watching testimony from Treasury
Secretary Timothy Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben
Bernanke's testimonies before the U.S. House of Representatives
Financial Services Committee later in the day.
                                
 The hearing is about American International Group's <AIG.N>
payment of retention bonuses, and investors will be looking for
signs of any more controversy over such bonuses at a time when
the company was being bailed out by the government.
                                
 Lower oil prices pressured energy shares as U.S. crude
futures <CLc1>  retreated after a 3 percent rise on Monday,
slipping down toward $53 a barrel. Shares of Exxon Mobil
<XOM.N> were off 1 percent to $69.85 in premarket trade.
                                
 S&P 500 futures <SPc1> fell 7.80 points and were below fair
value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account
interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the
contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures <DJc1> were down
69 points, and Nasdaq 100 <NDc1> futures lost 7.50 points.
                                
 The S&P 500 and the Dow industrials posted their biggest
one-day percentage gains since late October on Monday after the
long awaited details of the bank plan were released, as well as
more data suggesting the housing market could be on the mend.
                                
 The benchmark S&P 500 index is up more than 20 percent from
the bear market closing low set on March 9 and on Monday closed
above 800 for the first time since Feb. 13.
                                
 Financial shares were lower before the bell as investors
took profits following Monday's strength. Bank of America
<BAC.N> fell 4 percent to $7.49, and Citigroup <C.N> was down
3.2 percent at $3.03.
                                
 Longtime Bank of America shareholder Jerry Finger launched
on Monday a formal campaign to oust Chief Executive Kenneth
Lewis of his job as chairman, saying the bank took too much
risk when it bought Merrill Lynch & Co. For details,
see[ID:nN23302349]
                                
 In the latest in the bonus controversy, New York Attorney
General Andrew Cuomo said on Monday 15 of 20 AIG leading bonus
recipients have agreed to give them back in full. The spending
of $165 million in executive pay has drawn anger from those
opposed to the payment of bonuses in light of the government
bailout. [ID:nN23301448].
                                
 For a factbox on the AIG bonus dispute, see [ID:nB13225].
 (Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)