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, dropped. Microchip Technology Inc. fell after the maker of microcontrollers and analog chips cut its fiscal first-quarter sales forecast.

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, led 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. 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.

``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 1.3 to 1544.50 at 8 a.m. in New York. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures slid 5 to 13,725. Nasdaq-100 Index futures decreased 2.75 to 1964.75.

Home Depot lost 15 cents to $38.11.

Microchip Technology plunged $2.73 to $38.92. The company cut its sales forecast for the first fiscal quarter, citing lower demand in Europe and falling prices for memory chips. Piper Jaffray & Co. reduced its recommendation on the stock to ``market perform'' from ``outperform.''

Yahoo

Yahoo climbed $1.01 to $29.13. 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 89 cents to $79.69. Christopher Tugendhat, 70, resigned as chairman of the securities firm's European advisory board.

Earnings

Leggett & Platt Inc. fell 37 cents to $23.20. The maker of mattress springs and furniture parts forecast profit of as much as $1.55 a share this year, less than the $1.58 average estimate of five analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Expedia Inc. rose $3.50, or 14 percent, to $29. The world's largest Internet travel agency plans to spend as much as $3.5 billion buying back up to 42 percent of its common stock. The company will repurchase as many as 116.7 million shares for between $27.50 and $30 a share in a tender offer, Expedia said.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. added 14 cents to $30.45. The maker of the Plavix blood-thinning drug won accelerated U.S. review for its experimental breast-cancer drug ixabepilone, a new type of medicine for patients whose tumors have spread to other organs.

The housing-starts report is expected to show builders broke ground on new homes at an annual rate of 1.47 million in May, down 3.6 percent from 1.53 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.

To contact the reporters on this story: Eric Martin in New York at emartin21@bloomberg.net Ludwig Burger in Zurich at lburger2@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: June 19, 2007 08:04 EDT