US STOCKS-Wall St flat on anniversary of market bottom

* Airline advance after comments from UAL finance chief

* Texas Instruments raises view, struggles to fill orders

* Indexes: Dow, Nasdaq up 0.1 pct, S&P down 0.1 pct

* For up-to-the-minute market news, click [STXNEWS/US] (Updates to after the open)

By Ryan Vlastelica

NEW YORK, March 9 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were little changed on Tuesday, the anniversary of the market lows reached in the recession, with weakness in banks offset by strength in transportation stocks.

One year ago, Wall Street hit a more than 12-year low in the wake of the financial crisis. The Dow has rallied about 62 percent since then.

"This past year was one of the most powerful rallies in history, and with the recent gains we've had, it makes sense that we're going to move sideways for a while," said Phil Orlando, chief equity market strategist at Federated Investors in New York.

The S&P Financial sector <.GSPF> was the top percentage loser among sectors, down 0.5 percent one day after closing at a more than 7-week high. JPMorgan Chase & Co <JPM.N> was a top percentage loser on the Dow, off nearly 1 percent at $42.24.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> rose 7.33 points, or 0.07 percent, at 10,560.30. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> dipped 0.74 points, or 0.06 percent, at 1,137.83. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> was up 2.11 points, or 0.09 percent, at 2,334.31.

Airline and transport stocks rose after UAL Corp's <UAUA.O> chief financial officer said its United Airlines was clearly seeing signs of recovery. The stock gained 8 percent to $18.88, while the ARCA Airline index <.XAL> added 2.5 percent. [ID:nWEN1442]

Kroger Co <KR.N> fell 1.7 percent to $22.52 after the top U.S. grocery chain said fiscal-year earnings could miss expectations as it posted higher-than-expected quarterly profit. [ID:nN09223537]

Late Monday, Texas Instruments Inc <TXN.N> raised its quarterly earnings and revenue forecast but said it was struggling to fill orders due to increased demand for chips. The stock fell 2.7 percent to $24.02. [ID:nN08195713] (Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)