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U.S. stocks fell early Friday, weighed down by weak earnings from two major technology companies.

Shares of Micron Technology Inc. fell 14 percent after the company said weak sales of computer chips hurt its earnings, which were far less than analysts had expected. Oracle Corp. fell 4 percent after its sales of computer hardware fell sharply.

Technology stocks were broadly lower. Micron had the biggest loss of any stock in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index. Cisco Systems Inc. fell 1.3 percent, while Microsoft Corp. lost 1 percent.

Drug company Pfizer Inc. dropped 1 percent after the government rejected its application to sell a new pain drug.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 95, or 0.8 percent, to 11,952 in morning trading. The S&P 500 dropped 10, also 0.8 percent, to 1,273. The Nasdaq composite index fell 25, or 0.9 percent, to 2,662.

The poor reports from technology companies outweighed a slight improvement in first-quarter U.S. economic growth. Earlier Friday the government reported that the economy grew at an anemic 1.9 percent annual rate during the first three months of the year free 3-in-1 credit report. The number edged up from an earlier estimate of 1.8 percent, but still reflects weak growth. Economists expect little improvement in the second quarter, which ends next week.

The government also reported that businesses increased their orders of long-lasting goods by 1.9 percent in May after a sharp decline in April. Businesses ordered more machinery, equipment and airplanes.

The U.S. economic recovery has cooled since late April, pulling the stock market down in six out of the past seven weeks. Recent reports on housing, employment, manufacturing and retail sales have all been weak. The debt crisis in Greece and fears that China’s growth is slowing have also pushed markets lower.

Newell Rubbermaid Inc. rose 2 percent after the company late Thursday named Unilever executive Michael Polk CEO. Polk has been on Newell’s board of directors since 2009. Analysts applauded the choice.

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A judge has appointed a receiver to take over management of the Suson Pines Apartments in South St. Louis County. It’s the third residential property owned by Gannon International placed in receivership this year.

MLP Investments took over management of Suson Pines after a federal judge approved appointing a receiver on June 2.

PNC Bank sought the appointment of a receiver in connection to a loan it made to an affiliate of Creve Coeur-based Gannon that is secured by Suson Pines. In a federal lawsuit, PNC alleges Gannon is in default on a promissory note and owes more than $13 million.

The Suson Pines Apartments at 5625 Suson Hills Drive has 336 units on 36 acres business cards.  

PNC filed a lawsuit in April against several affiliates of Gannon International and its chief executive, William Franke, alleging Gannon is in default on loans secured by real estate. MLP Investments has also been appointed receiver to take over management of two other Gannon-owned properties: Springwood Apartments in Bel-Ridge and the Aspen Cove Townhomes in Ellisville. PNC alleges Gannon is in default on a $5.7 million loan secured by Springwood and $272,438 for Aspen Cove.

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FRANKFURT

A Chinese manufacturing index fell to its lowest level in 10 months, adding to signs that economic growth is cooling after the government raised interest rates and curbed lending to rein in inflation.

The preliminary purchasing managers’ index compiled by HSBC Holdings Plc and Markit Economics dropped to 51.1 in May from a final reading of 51.8 in April. A number above 50 indicates expansion.

Stocks in China extended declines after the report, with the benchmark index dropping to its lowest since February, on concern the government’s measures to tame inflation will damp growth and corporate earnings. Vice Premier Wang Qishan reiterated this month that the government’s top priority is to control price increases.

The data “confirms growth is slowing, which will likely dampen price pressures and limit scope for monetary tightening,” said Dariusz Kowalczyk, senior economist at Credit Agricole CIB in Hong Kong.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index fell 1.9 percent to 2,803.15 at the 11:30 a.m. local-time break, heading for the third straight daily decline. The yuan declined 0.08 percent to 6.4976 per dollar at 12:09 p.m.

HSBC’s preliminary manufacturing index, called the Flash PMI, is based on 85 percent to 90 percent of the total responses to its monthly purchasing managers’ survey sent to executives in more than 400 manufacturing companies.

Domestic Tightening

New export orders contracted in May and stocks of purchases and finished goods fell at a faster rate, HSBC said. An output gauge declined to a 10-month low, although it remained above the 50 level that divides expansion from contraction, the bank said.

The preliminary reading is “well below the series’ long- term average of 52.3,” Qu Hongbin, a Hong Kong-based economist at HSBC, said. Domestic tightening and disruptions to supplies caused by the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis in Japan likely affected manufacturing, he said.

The People’s Bank of China has raised borrowing costs four times since mid-October and curbed lending by raising banks’ reserve requirements to rein in inflation that’s exceeded the government’s 2011 target of 4 percent every month this year. The central bank is focused on containing inflation and will “control the monetary conditions behind excessively rapid gains in prices,” Governor Zhou Xiaochuan said in the PBOC’s annual report released May 17 cash advance america.

Beijing’s Priority

“Price stability will continue to outweigh growth as Beijing’s top priority in the coming months,” especially as inflation may accelerate until mid-year, HSBC’s Qu said. “Current tightening measures must be kept in place for a while longer to manage inflationary expectations.”

Industrial output growth weakened last month and the worst power shortage in seven years is hurting production at some factories as provinces start curtailing electricity supplies.

Many companies in the eastern province of Zhejiang, a manufacturing hub, are using diesel generators because of rationing, state-run China Petrochemical Corp., the country’s biggest fuel supplier, said on May 17.

The shortages may depress the nation’s economic growth by 0.4 percentage point this year, Industrial Securities Co. said in a May 20 report.

Fixed asset investment expanded 25.4 percent in the first four months of the year and exports jumped 29.9 percent last month, both exceeding analysts’ estimates, factors that may help support growth.

Tame Inflation

“Cooling growth is not all bad news as it also helps to tame inflation,” Qu said. The preliminary index’s input price gauge was at its lowest level since August 2010 and growth in output prices eased to 54.6 in May from 55.2 in April, he said.

The economy won’t experience a “hard landing” and any slowdown is “controllable,” Fan Jianping, director of economic forecasting at the State Information Center, a research institute affiliated with the National Development and Reform Commission, said at a Shanghai conference on May 19. He estimated growth will moderate to 9.5 percent this year from 10.3 percent in 2010.

–Zheng Lifei. With assistance from Regina Tan in Beijing. Editors: Nerys Avery, Ken McCallum

To contact Bloomberg News staff on this story: Zheng Lifei in Beijing at +86-10-6649-7560 or lzheng32@bloomberg.net

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Clayton

Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, whose party’s five-decade rule oversaw a 41-fold jump in gross domestic product, may find past success doesn’t sell as well to younger voters in tomorrow’s election.

The People’s Action Party is facing the most contests for parliamentary seats since independence in 1965. PAP members will likely keep a majority at a time of record economic growth, according to Pearlyn Wong, an investment analyst in Singapore at Bank Julius Baer & Co., which manages about $262 billion. At the same time, a decline in the share of the popular vote may spur the next PAP government to lean toward opposition concerns.

Singapore’s success has fueled wider income inequality, with the world’s highest share of dollar-millionaire households contributing to pressure on property and consumer prices. The opposition has called for more limits on the influx of foreign workers that make up the majority of construction and shipyard employees, and urged further steps to contain home prices.

“The PAP has to be mindful of and adapt to the new generation of voters who demonstrate a ‘papa don’t preach’ mentality,” said Eugene Tan, assistant professor of law at the Singapore Management University. “A relatively poor showing at the general election would certainly get the PAP back to the drawing board not just to re-examine the policy but also how to better communicate the policies.”

Parliament Makeup

Polls close at 8 p.m. tomorrow. The parliament dissolved last month was made up of 82 PAP lawmakers, two elected opposition politicians and 10 non-elected members. Tan said a loss of more than seven seats by the PAP or their share of the popular vote dipping below 60 percent would be a poor showing.

In a nation where 82 percent of households have Internet access, the PAP’s Facebook page is “liked” by 25,004 people, less than the 32,332 who favor the rival Workers’ Party. Voter polls and approval ratings aren’t published in Singapore.

Opposition groups including the Workers’ Party and Singapore Democratic Party are contesting the PAP for 82 of 87 parliamentary seats on May 7. The constituency of Lee Kuan Yew, 87, the Cambridge University-trained lawyer who led the island from British rule and became its first premier, is the only one going uncontested.

“This is really shaping up to be an exciting election,” said Samantha Lee, 23, an undergraduate and first-time voter. “The PAP has done a great job bringing us so far but maybe it’s time to have more voices representing the people. The record number of opposition candidates this time must surely say something about citizens wanting more alternatives.”

Stock Reaction

Property stocks including CapitaLand Ltd. (CAPL) and Keppel Land Ltd. (KPLD) have fallen in the run-up to tomorrow’s vote amid concern there will be increased pressure to rein in home prices. CapitaLand has dropped 4.7 percent in the past month, exceeding the 2.2 percent decline in the Straits Times Index (FSSTI), while Keppel Land has retreated 11 percent.

Opposition parties may win 10 to 17 parliamentary seats, meaning the PAP will still have more than 80 percent of seats and “be in complete control of policy-making and implementation,” Prasenjit Basu, an economist at Daiwa Capital in Singapore, wrote in a report dated yesterday paperless payday loans.

Growth Recipe

In recent years, Singapore’s drive for growth has included the opening of two casino-resorts and bringing the Formula One race to the island to boost tourism. More than a third of Singapore’s 5.1 million population is made up of foreigners and permanent residents, whose growing numbers have led to increased competition for housing, jobs and education.

Smaller than New York City and without natural resources, Singapore’s gross domestic product was about S$285 billion ($231 billion) last year, compared with S$6.9 billion in 1960, based on 2005 market prices, while GDP per capita surged to S$59,813 from S$1,310 based on current prices. GDP surged 14.5 percent last year, the most in Asia. Singapore is the only Asian country with AAA ratings from Moody’s Investors Service, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch Ratings.

“Do not rock this foundation,” Lee Kuan Yew said in an editorial in the Today newspaper last week. “Do not risk your assets, property values, job opportunities. Vote for men and women of proven character and track records of high performance.”

Paying Dividends

The administration of Lee’s son, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, 59, says it hasn’t neglected its citizens for the sake of growth. In this year’s budget, the government plans to spend S$6.6 billion on benefits to ease the burden of inflation.

The government is distributing cash to all adult citizens as a “dividend” from record growth, supplementing the wages of low-income workers, upgrading homes and requiring companies to increase contributions into employees’ pension fund.

The PAP’s message still resounds among some voters.

“The current party works for me,” said Tan Sze Theng, 31, a tutor who lives in the affluent Bukit Timah neighborhood in Singapore. “I have my job, the country is stable, there are worse-off places to be in. There is complacency in the government, but it’s not big enough a reason for me to vote for the opposition.”

Lee Apologizes

Opposition groups are seeking to create a more diverse political structure. The Singapore Democratic Party said on its website April 18 that “little room has been left for the views of citizens to shape the policy-making process. This has led to a situation where local and national government is very far removed from the day-to-day concerns of the people.”

Prime Minister Lee apologized at a PAP rally for not moving faster to address shortfalls in housing, the Straits Times reported. “If we didn’t quite get it right, I am sorry but we will try and do better the next time,” the paper quoted him as saying May 3.

Dissent is growing among Singaporeans who may feel less beholden to a ruling party that led the island out of colonial rule than past voters. The shift mirrors that in nations from Malaysia to India, where the hold of independence-era parties has weakened. The last polls, in May 2006, returned the PAP to power with about 67 percent of the votes cast, down from 75 percent in the 2001 elections.

‘Very Complacent’

“They keep telling us how they built Singapore,” said Alvin Lee, a 25-year-old economics and finance student at Singapore Institute of Management who plans to vote for the opposition. “They are really very complacent.”

Singapore’s Gini coefficient, a gauge of income inequality, rose to 0.48 last year from 0.444 in 2000, according to the statistics department. A reading of zero means income equality, while a reading of one means complete inequality. Inflation accelerated to a two-year high of 5.5 percent in January.

“It’s very pressurizing living in Singapore,” said housewife Low Bee Kian, 39, who has three children aged 10 to 16. “Everything is so expensive. The government says the economy is doing well but why am I not feeling it?”

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Rescuers have blasted through 163 feet of solid rock in an effort to find an Idaho silver miner who has been missing since a cave-in last week, Hecla Mining Co. said Friday.

But the company says the most difficult work is still to come, as they advance into possibly more treacherous conditions.

Workers still have about 57 feet to go before they reach a void inside a collapsed tunnel where they hope Larry Marek, 53, will be found more than a mile deep in the Lucky Friday Mine.

“Crews have been progressing safely and quickly,” Hecla said in a press release just before 6 p.m. on Friday. “However, as the crew advances closer (to where Marek may be), the work involved will become much more difficult, time consuming with new materials, equipment and supplies in order to advance the tunnel into potentially unstable ground.”

Hecla has decided not to start digging on a second rescue tunnel, to prevent interference with stability monitoring on the current excavation effort.

The collapse happened last Friday. Rescuers have had no contact with Marek since.

Hecla Mining said workers also continue to pump fresh air and water into separate bore holes that reach into the clear area behind the cave-in. Small cameras sent into that so-called “void” have yet to show any images of Marek.

“We have secured additional cameras from external sources which will help us see inside the open areas,” the company said, adding it’s also testing air quality in the area of the collapse.

Marek and his brother, Mike, had just finished watering down blasted-out rock and ore in an area called Stope 15, which has been mined for 14 years, Hecla said. The ceiling collapsed about 75 feet from the rock face of the 6,150-foot deep tunnel, the company said. Mike Marek, who was working at the opposite end of the collapse from his brother, escaped unharmed.

Marek has been trapped with little food and water, likely in the dark, in temperatures well over a 100 degrees.

Rescue workers are drilling and blasting their way through rock in an effort to reach Marek’s last known location.

No cause has been established for the cave-in. The mine has shut down production to concentrate on the rescue effort.

The Marek family has not spoken with reporters since the cave-in.

Hecla is the largest silver producer in the nation, from the Lucky Friday and the Greens Creek mine in Alaska.

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Canadians are concerned about rising gas prices but are still shelling out for big ticket items, according to the latest consumer confidence data.

April

Investors drove up U.S. home sales last month, plunking down cash to grab cheap homes at risk of foreclosure. But first-time homebuyers, who are crucial to a housing recovery, stayed away.

Sales of previously occupied homes rose last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.1 million, the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday. That’s up 3.7 percent from 4.92 million in February. The pace is far below the 6 million homes a year that economists say represents a healthy market.

Foreclosures or short sales, when the lender agrees to accept less than is owed on the mortgage, rose to 40 percent of all sales. Deals paid for entirely in cash accounted for 35 percent of all sales _ the highest level in nearly two years.

Many of those purchases are being made by investors, who are targeting cheap properties in areas hit hardest by foreclosures: Phoenix, Las Vegas and Tampa.

The evidence of their activity: sales of homes priced under $100,000 have risen 10 percent from a year ago. In that same period, sales of mid-priced homes, between $100,000 and $500,000, have fallen by more than 14 percent.

A big reason for that is fewer first-time homebuyers, the types of people who set down roots and raise families, are entering the market. Sales among that group fell to 33 percent in March. A more healthy percentage of first-time buyers is 40 percent, according to the trade group.

The median sales price rose in March to $159,600, but is still down 5.9 percent from a year ago.

Many would-be buyers are holding off, worried that home prices haven’t hit their bottom. Other potential buyers are having trouble getting mortgages because banks have tightened lending requirements.

One major obstacle to a housing recovery is the glut of unsold homes on the market. There were 3.55 million unsold homes in March. It would take 8.4 months to clear them off the market at today’s sales pace. Analysts say a six-month supply represents a healthy supply of homes.

Economists say the situation is much worse when the “shadow inventory” of homes is taken into account. These are homes that are in the early stages of the foreclosure process but have not been put on the market yet for resale.

Foreclosures are playing a big role in weakening the housing industry. A record 1 million homes were lost to foreclosure last year and foreclosure tracker RealtyTrac Inc. said it expects 1.2 million more will be lost to foreclosures this year.

For March, sales rose 8.2 percent in the South, 3.9 percent in the Northeast and 1 percent in the Midwest. Sales fell 0.8 percent in the West.

Sales of single-family homes rose 4 percent to an annual rate of 4.45 million units. Sales of condominiums rose 1.6 percent to a rate of 650,000 units.

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Portugal says it has paid out euro4.2 billion ($6.1 billion) in a bond redemption, avoiding default but further depleting its cash reserves ahead of a promised international bailout.

An official from the Finance Ministry said on condition of anonymity, in line with government policy, that Portugal repaid the maturing loan Friday, as expected.

Portuguese authorities have admitted they don’t have enough money to settle a euro7 billion debt falling due in June and have asked for financial help.

Portugal’s European partners and the International Monetary Fund have agreed to provide aid which could reach euro80 billion. But negotiations on the loan’s terms, especially how much interest Portugal will pay, are likely to take weeks.

The country is facing unsustainable borrowing costs, with its 10-year bond yield reaching 8.9 percent Friday.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

LISBON, Portugal (AP) _ Portugal is having to find euro4.2 billion ($6.1 billion) for a bond redemption, stoking financial pressure on the cash-strapped country which has requested a bailout.

Authorities say Portugal has enough money in reserve to cover the loan repayment Friday. However, they admit the country won’t be able to settle other debts in June.

Portugal’s European partners and the International Monetary Fund have agreed to provide a financial rescue package which could reach euro80 billion.

But negotiations on the terms of that loan, especially how much interest Portugal should pay on it, are likely to take weeks.

The bailout pledge hasn’t defused market tension, with the country’s 10-year bond yield reaching an unsustainable 8.9 percent Friday.

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