NEW YORK, May 9- AT&T Inc has cut the price of the HTC First phone, which is preloaded with Facebook Inc applications, to 99 cents from $99.99 less than a month after the phone's launch. AT&T, the No. 2 U.S. mobile service provider, said the price cut took effect on Wednesday.

*Tesla Motors and Groupon soar after results. NEW YORK, May 9- U.S. stocks edged lower on Thursday despite stronger-than-expected data on the labor market, with Wall Street coming off a sustained rally that took the S&P 500 to record closing highs for five straight sessions.

May 9- Shares in Barnes& Noble Inc rose 32 percent in premarket trading on Thursday after a report that its partner Microsoft Corp is considering an offer to acquire all of Nook Media's digital assets.

WASHINGTON, May 9- Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest mortgage finance company, said on Thursday it will pay $59.4 billion in dividends to the U.S.

May 9- Groupon Inc shares were set to open about 11 percent higher on Thursday after the daily deals company reported a strong quarter for its North American business, prompting at least four brokerages to raise their stock price targets. Some analysts said the January-March quarter was an encouraging sign that Groupon has stronger long-term prospects.

Strong investor demand for the deal helped Quintiles, which is backed by Bain Capital LLC and TPG Capital LP, price 20 percent more shares than expected at the top end of the range and pushed up pricing a day early, according to people familiar with the deal.

LONDON, May 8- North Dakota's leading oilfield operators hope to squeeze much more oil from its shale formations by drilling wells closer together- a bold experiment that could raise ultimate recovery by billions of barrels if it succeeds.

May 9- Shares in Barnes& Noble Inc rose 27 percent in premarket trading on Thursday after a report that its partner Microsoft Corp is considering an offer to acquire all of Nook Media's digital assets. It was not clear from the TechCrunch story whether Microsoft has formally made that offer to Barnes& Noble's board, or whether Barnes& Noble has replied.

*First-quarter profit $0.37/ share vs $0.41 year ago. May 8- Monster Beverage Corp reported a 17 percent fall in quarterly profit due to higher operating expenses and costs related to distributor terminations and foreign currency transactions.

BUENOS AIRES, May 8- Paraguayan and Brazilian soybeans are set to be shipped to the United States, where stocks of the oilseed are unusually tight due to last year's drought in the U.S. Soy- used in the United States to make biodiesel, animal feed and dishes such as tofu- is an increasingly important source of protein at a time of rocketing world food demand.

*Nokia announces mid-range $99 phone aimed at emerging markets. NEW DELHI, May 9- Nokia is betting low-priced phones with Internet capability will help it regain lost ground in crucial emerging markets after falling behind in the global smartphone race.

HELSINKI, May 9- Nokia unveiled a new mid-range Asha phone priced at $99, aiming to prevent consumers, particularly in emerging makets, from switching to Google's Android as they upgrade from basic phones. The Asha phones have some of the basic functions of smartphones including access to Internet and apps like Facebook.

*Sony forecasts steady op profit of 230 bln yen for year to March 31. TOKYO, May 9- Sony Corp forecast a drop in sales of cameras and game machines this business year as its consumer gadget business struggles despite a rebound in profit to five-year highs and a boost from the weak yen.

NEW YORK, May 8- The message that everyone should go to college does a disservice to the 60 percent of students who do not finish their degrees within six years, according to new research from Brookings Center on Children and Families, a non-partisan research center in Washington. These students end up with debt that is not recouped by higher salaries later in life.

SINGAPORE, May 9- Gold edged down on Thursday, after rising more than 1 percent in the previous session, as speculators booked profits and investors cut their holdings on bullion exchange-traded funds to their lowest since early 2009.. *Spot gold fell $2.78 an ounce to $1,469.41 by 0045 GMT, with gains in equities also weighing on prices.

*Groupon board forms committee to start search for new CEO. May 8- Groupon Inc's quarterly revenue rose a faster-than-expected 7.5 percent after the company's North American daily deals business turned in a strong performance, stirring hopes that the struggling company may have begun to turn things around.

SANTO DOMINGO, May 8- The Dominican Republic and Barrick Gold Corp have reached a preliminary agreement to boost the government's cut of profits from a gold mine in the Caribbean nation, easing investor doubts over the future of one of the world's largest new gold projects.

May 8- Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc, maker of Keurig single-serve brewers and K-Cups, raised its full-year earnings outlook on Wednesday after a better-than-expected second quarter and said it had expanded its relationship with Starbucks Corp, sending its shares up almost 16 percent after hours.

*Army decision closely watched by industry. Industry executives say they hope to hear more in June or July, but their hopes for a new acquisition program- one of few on the horizon- have dimmed given disparaging comments by top Army officials in recent weeks about flight demonstrations of some possible "off-the-shelf" helicopters last year.