By Ludwig Burger
June 19 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stock-index futures fell before a housing report that may show the real-estate slump will continue to weigh on economic growth.
Home Depot Inc., the world's largest home-improvement chain, slipped in Europe. Microchip Technology Inc. dropped after the maker of microcontrollers and analog chips cut its fiscal first- quarter sales forecast.
Shares of Yahoo! Inc., owner of the most-visited U.S. Web site, climbed after co-founder Jerry Yang replaced Terry Semel as chief executive officer.
U.S. indexes fell yesterday, paced by homebuilders, after a gauge of confidence in the industry dropped to a 16-year low. A government report today may show housing starts slid in May.
``People will get further evidence today that construction activity is on the decline and that there is pressure on house prices,'' said Matthias Geissbuehler, who helps manage the equivalent of $800 million at Bank Cial in Basel, Switzerland. ``That trend won't go away so quickly.''
Standard & Poor's 500 Index futures expiring in September lost 1.60 to 1544.30 at 11:26 a.m. in London. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures slid 13 to 13,717. Nasdaq-100 Index futures decreased 3 to 1964.50.
Home Depot lost 18 cents to $37.78 in Germany. Housing construction is in its worst recession since 1990-1991, cutting 0.9 percentage point from growth in the first quarter after detracting 1.2 percentage points in the second half of 2006.
Microchip Technology
Microchip Technology plunged $2.73 to $38.92 in Germany. The company cut its sales forecast for the first fiscal quarter, citing lower demand in Europe and falling prices for memory chips.
Separately, Piper Jaffray Cos. reduced its recommendation on the stock to ``market perform'' from ``outperform.''
``With near-term business softening and the shares currently trading in the $40 range,'' analysts including Tore Svanberg said in a note to investors that they ``find it difficult to continue to recommend the shares.''
Yahoo climbed $1.11 to $29.23 in Germany. Yang replaced Semel after Yahoo lost its lead in Internet advertising to Google Inc. and the shares fell 35 percent last year. The new CEO, who started the company as a Stanford University student 12 years ago, said he will hire engineers and improve the company's technology to regain ground.
Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. lost 98 cents to $79.60 in Germany. Christopher Tugendhat, 70, resigned as chairman of the security firm's European advisory board.
Earnings
Best Buy Co. added 7 cents to $48.08 in Germany. The largest U.S. electronics chain is expected to report earnings of 50 cents a share, the average of 26 estimates in a survey by Bloomberg News.
Leggett & Platt Inc. fell 4.5 percent to $22.52 in extended U.S. trading yesterday. The maker of mattress springs and furniture parts forecast profit of as much as $1.55 a share this year. The average estimate from five analysts in a Bloomberg survey was $1.58. The shares didn't trade in Europe.
The housing-starts report today is expected to show builders broke ground on new houses at an annual rate of 1.473 million in May, down 3.6 percent from 1.528 million the prior month, according to the median forecast of 68 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. Building permits probably rose to 1.47 million from a nine-year low of 1.457 million in April.
Lower prices and more incentives have failed to spur interest as buyers wait for even bigger bargains, leaving builders with a glut of unsold properties. A jump in mortgage rates and stricter rules to qualify for a loan will probably reduce demand even more in coming months, economists said.
The S&P 500 Index fell 1.86, or 0.1 percent, to 1531.05 yesterday. The Dow decreased 26.5, or 0.2 percent, to 13,612.98. The Nasdaq slipped 0.11 to 2626.60.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ludwig Burger in Zurich at lburger2@bloomberg.net
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