WALL STREET JOURNAL: The Wall Street Journal reported that after years of rapid grows, many hedge funds are shutting their doors or merging with others, as expansion has dramatically slowed. As a result, the industry is being dominated mostly by big firms, such as Och-Ziff Capital Management (OZM), D.E. Shaw & Co., and Paulson and Co…Shares of Ctrip.com (CTRP), China’s major Internet travel booker with about 58% of the country’s online travel business, have dropped about 30% in the last six weeks alone creating a possible buying opportunity, according to the Wall Street Journal’s “Heard in Asia”. Travel in China is expected to grow solidly in the long-term and Ctrip.com said it expects revenue to grow 30% for the three months ending June 30 from a year earlier…

FINANCIAL TIMES: In a move that could potentially usher in a new phase in the credit crunch, the Financial Times reported that Goldman Sachs (GS) is said to be close to finalizing a plan to restructure a $7B investment vehicle formerly run by Cheyne Capital, a London-based hedge fund…

WASHINGTON POST: The Washington Post reported the proposed merger between XM Satellite (XMSR) and Sirius Satellite (SIRI) was under fire yesterday by senior members of the Congressional Black Caucus, who said the deal does not provide enough opportunities for minority-owned programming…

Warren Buffett said to back InBev bid for Anheuser-Busch-De Standard

According to the Belgian newspaper De Standard, Warren Buffett is backing InBev’s offer for Anheuser-Busch (BUD). Warrn Buffett’s investment vehicle, Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A), holds a 5% stake in Anheuser-Busch.

EnCana positive on Horn River gas development-Globe and Mail

EnCana Corp (ECA) yesterday outlined how much natural gas it hopes to produce over the long-term from the Horn River region in northeastern British Columbia. The country’s largest gas producer believes eventually it will be able to produce one billion cubic feet of gas per day, the equivalent of about 170,000 barrels of oil. While EnCana did not say when it would be able to reach the production goal, rival EOG Resources (EOG) has said it may take three years before major gas production is able to commence. EnCana is also bullish on the Barnett shale basin in Fort Worth, Texas, where it says it could also eventually produce a billion cubic feet a day from shale gas.

China Unicom may offer iPhone in August-ChinaTechNews

Rumors have been swirling that China Unicom (CHU) will begin to offer Apple’s (AAPL) 3G iPhone to the Chinese mainland this August. While China Unicom has not commented on the matter, sources from Apple’s global developer conference say the iPhone will add support to two new languages — Chinese and Japanese — and will embed a Chinese hand-written inputting method.

ADBE: Recommend buying shares ahead of product cycles@PACS
PacCrest would be a buyer of ADBE shares in front of the Acrobat9 and CS4 product launch cycles. The firm raised their estimates following the company’s better-than-expected Q2 results and reiterate an Outperform rating with a $54 target.

Goldman Sachs-GS reports Q2 EPS $4.58 vs. consensus of $3.42
Reports Q2 revenue $9.42B vs. consensus of $8.74B
Great numbers and good gap up premarket..GS also had a good pre earnings run before the numbers.

Comstock Resources-CRK initiated with a Buy, target $85@CSTI
Collins Stewart sees additional share upside from the company’s Haynesville shale exposure.
Nice LT play going forward.

Goodrich Petroleum-GDP initiated with a Buy, target $75@CSTI
Collins Stewart sees additional share upside from the company’s Haynesville shale exposure.

Financial Institutions/Consumer Credit: Quality deteriorating steadily@FBRC

With FBRC’s analysis showing the individual consumer is in worse condition financially than in the 2001 recession and with less options than before, it is their opinion consumer finance stocks such as ACF, ADVNB, AXP and COF should be sold. While these Underperform rated stocks’ valuations haven’t yet been reduced to what they were in the previous recession, it is FBRC’s opinion there is additional downside potential. SLM/OP, in the student lending segment of the consumer credit sector, is worth buying on FBRC’s belief it will outperform.

Myriad Genetics-MYGN: See reasons to buy despite expected Flurizan failure@JPMS
JP Morgan thinks MYGN’s Phase III trial of Flurizan in mild Alzheimer’s disease will likely miss the primary endpoint, but the firm remains positive on the stock given the strength and value of the base predictive medicine business. They reiterate an Overweight rating on the stock.

BBY sees FY09 EPS $3.25-$3.40 vs. consensus of $3.26
Sees FY09 revenue $43B-$44B vs. consensus of $43.9B. Sees FY09 SSS up 1-3%.