U.S. bank merger recovery could get hurt by recent turkeys

By Dan Freed and Dan Wilchins NEW YORK (Reuters) - The recent pickup in U.S. bank merger activity could slow down in the coming months after regional banks that announced deals last week were punished in the stock market, bankers said. When KeyCorp said on Friday that it agreed to buy First Niagara Financial Group, shares of both banks dropped fell, with KeyCorp dropping 7 percent and First Niagara slipping nearly 1 percent. When New York Community Bancorp agreed to buy Astoria Financial Inc, th