GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks little changed, gold hits record

* World stocks weaken after U.S. data

* Gold rises to record highs on safe-haven bid

* Currency intervention concerns continue (Updates with U.S. markets' close)

By Manuela Badawy

NEW YORK, Sept 16 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were little changed on Thursday as data showed the U.S. economy's recovery remained halting, while the dollar rose slightly against the yen a day after Japan's huge intervention to weaken its currency.

Gold rose to a record high above $1,275 per ounce as jitters about any further yen selling and broader economic uncertainty enticed more investors to the safe-haven commodity.

U.S. government bond prices fell after Philadelphia Federal Reserve data showed business conditions contracted in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic region in August, though not as severely as in July, while U.S. weekly claims for unemployment benefits dropped to a two-month low but still remained high.

The mildly reassuring data reduced investors' expectations that the Federal Reserve, which meets on Sept. 21, would renew quantitative easing in the form of massive debt purchases aimed at jump-starting the economy.

The latest snapshot of the U.S. labor market and the regional factory sector data reinforced the view of a slowing economy but not one on the cusp of slipping into recession or deflation.

"We are just in the same growth path we were before the double-dip fears -- that is why the (stock) market is just kind of stuck, volumes are kind of low, and there is no conviction one way or the other," said John Canally, investment strategist and economist for LPL Financial in Boston.

"Jobless claims were good, corporate earnings data not so good, and that's the tug of war you are in today."

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> ended up 22.10 points, or 0.21 percent, at 10,594.83. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> closed down 0.41 point, or 0.04 percent, at 1,124.66. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> rose 1.93 points, or 0.08 percent, to 2,303.25.

Shares in FedEx Corp fell 3.7 percent to $82.72 after the company, seen as a proxy for economic demand because of the wide swath of industries it serves, forecast quarterly profit below Wall Street's expectations and warned the recovery may slow. For details, see [ID:nN16235653]

The December futures contract for the Nikkei 225 stock index <0#NK:> trading in Chicago fell 85 points to 9,565, while MSCI's All-Country World Index <.MIWD00000PUS> fell 0.3 percent.

The FTSEurofirst 300 <.FTEU3> index of top European shares ended 0.8 percent lower, its lowest closing level in a week, after disappointing British retail sales in August, a sign the UK economy was on a slow growth path.

"Times are difficult because of the combination of high unemployment, banks not lending yet and governments starting to implement austerity measures. All these factors are not going to be resolved overnight," said Franz Weis, a fund manager at Comgest in Paris.

YEN TALK

Investors were jittery after Wednesday's currency intervention by Japan, its first in six years, that knocked the yen from a 15-year high versus the dollar. The Bank of Japan's money market data showed the yen-selling intervention may have totaled around 1.76 trillion to 1.86 trillion yen ($20.52 billion to $21.69 billion). [ID:nTKW007123]

Adding to investor nerves, Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan pointed to more potential yen selling.

Later in the trading day, the dollar rose 0.15 percent to 85.86 yen from a previous session close of 85.73.

Wednesday's move was designed to protect Japanese exports from a too-competitive exchange rate and ward off job losses.

But analysts said Japanese authorities may have a hard time fighting the yen's strength, given narrow yield spreads between Japanese and U.S. government bonds.

"It is almost inevitable that the Japanese authorities will have to continue intervention heading into year end with dollar/yen likely to remain under downward pressure as the U.S. economy slows and the Fed moves toward renewed monetary easing," said Lee Hardman, currency economist at The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ in London.

The euro rose to its highest in more than a month against the dollar at $1.3112 and was last trading up 0.56 percent at $1.3077. Against the yen it rose to 112.30 after strong demand at a Spanish bond auction reinforced confidence in Europe's sovereign issues.

Spain sold a combined 4 billion euros in 10-year and 30-year bonds, at the top of its targeted range, attracting solid demand and lower yields than its last auction in June. [ID:nLDE68E0YT]

The country was among those most in the limelight during the sovereign debt crisis earlier this year.

BONDS AND COMMODITIES

The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note was down 11/32, its yield at 2.7626 percent after the Philadelphia Fed data on the U.S. Mid-Atlantic region.

The 2-year U.S. Treasury note was unchanged, yielding 0.4796 percent. The 30-year U.S. Treasury bond was down 29/32, its yield at 3.9275 percent.

Crude oil fell $1.59, or 2.09 percent, to $74.43 a barrel ahead of the expected reopening of a North American pipeline that will restore crude supplies to U.S. refiners.

Spot gold prices rose $5.96, or 0.47 percent, to $1273.50. Earlier on Thursday it hit a record $1,277.70 an ounce. U.S. December gold futures also rose to a historic high . (Additional reporting by Wanfeng Zhou and Nick Olivari in New York and Neal Amstrong in London; Editing by Padraic Cassidy and Dan Grebler)