WALL STREET JOURNAL

Starbucks (SBUX) said it will close over two-thirds of its 84 stores in Australia, the most severe of its foreign restructuring plans, the Wall Street Journal reported…The Wall Street Journal also reported that beginning August 1 GMAC LLC (GMA), the biggest volume auto lender in North America, will stop subsidizing car leasing in Canada. If the leasing market continues to worsen, GMAC could stop leasing in the U.S…FINANCIAL TIMES: Teva (TEVA) CEO Shlomo Yanai told the Financial Times that the company will look to form a joint venture in Japan to increase its market share in the small but fast-growing market for generic medicines…TELEGRAPH: After several private equity bidders failed to make an offer that matched the asking price, the Telegraph reported that ExxonMobil (XOM) and Shell (RDS.A) pulled the proposed $3B sale of Infineum. Sources said Apollo Management, KKR, Carlyle and BC Partners all participated in the final stages of the auction, but the lack of readily-available debt financing made it difficult for the firms to come up with a final bid that met expectations…NIKKEI: Sony (SNE) is in talks to acquire the 50% stake that it does not own in Sony BMG Music Entertainment from Bertelsman AG. Sony plans to turn Sony BMG Music Entertainment into a wholly owned subsidiary, according to the Nikkei…

Hedge funds focus on financial sector opportunities-WSJ
Hedge funds are busy raising money form investors as they eye buying opportunities in the struggling financial sector, according to the Wall Street Journal’s “Heard on the Street”. John Paulson, of Paulson & Co., for one, is planning a new fund that will invest in financial firms. If Paulson, a noted bear, is thinking that way, does that mean the bottom is near? “Everyone’s trying to raise a ‘distressed’ or ‘dislocation’ fund,” says Brad Alford of Alpha Capital Management.
Great news for the markets if one of the biggest whales on WallSt wants to reverse his trade that brought him the biggest killing ever made by one man/woman in one year with a $3.7 billion take home, shorting subprime near the top.
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Deutsche Bank, surviving better than most banks, may become an acquirer-WSJ
It has fewer bad investments than most, its stock is down 35% this year, it may still face more write-downs or have to raise capital, but Deutsche Bank (DB) plans to be an acquirer in the second half of 2008, reports the Wall Street Journal. The bank expects to show a profit in the second quarter when it reports its results on Thursday.

U.K. may guarantee mortgage-backed securities-BBC
The British Treasury may use taxpayer funds to guarantee billions of pounds of the country’s mortgage-backed securities, the BBC’s business editor reports. The Treasury is considering the move after a government regulator predicted that Britain’s mortgage financing would continue to be inadequate through 2010.

Will Apple take a new look at MacBooks?-BusinessWeek
BusinessWeek suggests that investors turn their attention to “future product transition” at Apple (AAPL) rather than focusing on the health of CEO Steve Jobs. BW’s Arik Hesseldahl suggests the company will look to revamp its notebook line and believes new iterations of the MacBook Pro will be a big part of the lineup that will allow gross margins to narrow to 30% in FY09. Hesseldahl believes it is more likely that Apple will put more features on the Macs and iPod rather than cut prices on Macs, particularly because its Q4 coincides with the back-to-school season. An update to the notebook line is likely, Hesseldahl says, because the MacBook Pro is “essential the same notebook” as 2001’s PowerBook Titanium. A new, smaller machine, which may eventually include multitouch screens, could also sell for less than $800.

New Macs expected to have significant architectural changes-AppleInsider
Sources with knowledge of Apple’s (AAPL) plans for the next generation of Macs say–including three redesigned notebooks–it will not use the Montevina chipset which will be a part of Intel’s Centrino 2 mobile platform. It has been suggested that the chipset that will be used in the new Macs may not be based on Intel ttechnology. Exactly what Apple will use is not yet clear.

U.S. equities still point to a higher open
Stocks continue to look higher after yesterday’s big sell-off. The big news of course is the Merrill Lynch (MER) announcement to shore its balance sheet, and that has had a positive affect. The price of crude oil is trading lower and is now is down to about $123 a barrel. The week’s economic numbers start to kick in with a consumer confidence reading for the July, expected at 10:00am ET. Analysts are predicting a reading of 50.1.

Fording Canadian Coal Trust-FDG to sell assets to Teck Cominco-TCK
Fording Canadian Coal Trust announced that it has entered into an agreement to sell all of its assets to Teck Cominco Limited by way of a plan of arrangement, pursuant to which Fording unitholders will receive $93.76 per unit payable in a combination of $82.00 cash and 0.245 of a Teck Cominco Class B subordinate voting share per Fording unit. “We are pleased to be able to present Fording unitholders with this opportunity to realize enhanced value from their investment,” said Michael Grandin, the Chair of the Independent Committee of the Fording Trustees. It is expected that the Fording unitholder meeting to consider the Transaction will occur in late September 2008 and that the Transaction will be completed in late October 2008. The $82.00 per unit cash payment, which includes a final distribution of $3.00 per unit, and Teck Cominco Shares equate to $14.1 billion.