*

Indexes down: Dow 0.31%, S&P 500 0.24%, Nasdaq 0.21%

*

Delta Air Lines ( DAL ) shares rise on Q4 profit forecast

*

Albemarle gains on PT hike, China's rare earth export

controls

(Updates with late-morning trading)

By Niket Nishant and Sukriti Gupta

Oct 9 (Reuters) - Wall Street's scorching rally took a

pause on Thursday as investors, confronted with a lack of fresh

catalysts, struggled to justify the lofty stock valuations

fueled by the bull run.

While stocks have defied bubble concerns and held strong

even during a seasonally weak stretch, some analysts worry that

a swift pullback is on the cards if the U.S. Federal Reserve

does not cut interest rates as aggressively as the markets

expect.

Minutes from the central bank's September meeting, released

on Wednesday, showed lingering inflation concerns among

policymakers.

New York Fed President John Williams told the New York Times

that he backs more rate cuts this year. Investors will also tune

in to remarks from Fed Board Governor Michael Barr and San

Francisco Fed President Mary Daly.

Any hawkish tilt could weigh on equities, which have largely

been buoyed by rate cut hopes and the artificial intelligence

boom.

At 11:59 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average

fell 145.34 points, or 0.31%, to 46,456.19. The S&P 500

lost 16.21 points, or 0.24%, to 6,737.51, while the Nasdaq

Composite was down 47.72 points, or 0.21%, at 22,995.90.

The S&P 500 consumer discretionary stocks fell

0.9%, as Tesla slipped 1.9% and Amazon ( AMZN ) dipped

0.5%.

The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said

it was opening an investigation into 2.88 million of Tesla's

vehicles equipped with the Full Self-Driving system.

Tech stocks were flat. Apple ( AAPL ), Microsoft ( MSFT )

and AppLovin ( APP ) fell 1.5%, 1% and 4.9%,

respectively. The stocks also weighed on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 industrials sector fell 0.9%, with

Boeing ( BA ) down 3.2% and Honeywell ( HON ) dropping 2.1%.

Yet, some analysts bet that the nearly three-year-old bull

market might still have room to run.

"Public markets have shown striking resilience to the

policy-driven volatility of recent months. That's a reminder

that investor appetite for high-quality growth remains robust,

especially in tech," said Isabelle Freidheim, founder of Athena

Capital.

Another flicker of hope for risk assets could come from

easing geopolitical tensions, as Israel and Hamas signed off on

the first phase of a proposed Gaza peace deal.

Delta Air Lines ( DAL ) shares jumped 5.1%. The airline

provided an upbeat forecast for the current quarter, after

posting stronger-than-expected third-quarter earnings.

PepsiCo ( PEP ) rose 2.2% after the beverage giant topped

Wall Street expectations for third-quarter revenue and profit.

Shares of U.S. homebuilders fell. Pultegroup ( PHM ) and

D.R. Horton ( DHI ) declined 5.2% and 4.5%, respectively. They

were among the top losers on the benchmark index.

Lithium producer Albemarle rose 7.2% after brokerage

TD Cowen raised price target on the stock and as China tightened

export controls on rare earths.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 2.56-to-1 ratio

on the NYSE and by a 1.53-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted 18 new 52-week highs and five new lows,

while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 110 new highs and 42 new

lows.