WALL STREET JOURNAL

The market for private mortgage insurance has narrowed and is tougher to obtain, further pressuring home buyers and affecting the market, the Wall Street Journal reported. “Clearly, the pendulum had swung a little too far in terms of flexibility in underwriting,” said Len Sweeney, the chief risk officer at AIG United Guaranty, a part of American International Group (AIG)…In a agreement with Viacom (VIA), Google (GOOG) said it will remove visitor data from YouTube before it fulfills a judge’s order to send data to Viacom, as a part of a larger copyright lawsuit, the Wall Street Journal reported…DETROIT NEWS: As part of its effort to emerge from bankruptcy protection, the Detroit News reported that Delphi Corp (DPHIQ) announced plans to sell its brake business. Delphi has retained W.Y. Campbell and Co to help sell the unit, which has around 1,000 employees worldwide…

NEW YORK POST: The New York Post learned that Dick Fuld, the CEO of Lehman Brothers (LEH), is seriously considering ways to take the company private. The Post said that talks centering on the privatization of Lehman have “gotten very serious consideration,” according to sources, although details on how a maneuver may work remain unclear…

AAPL: Short-Term negative, expect EPS guidance below Street estimates@BMOC
BMO Capital expects AAPL to guide September quarter EPS to approximately $1.00 vs. the Street’s $1.24 estimate. The firm said past revenue guidance of 3%-3.5% QoQ indicates the company will guide to $7.7B-$7.75B vs. the Street’s estimate for $8.27B. Even though the firm expects September guidance to be below Street estimates, they expect actual results to be roughly in line with current September quarter estimates. Shares are Outperform rated.

U.S. equity futures continue to point to a lower open

U.S. equity futures continue to point to a lower open. Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE) continue to cause volatility in the markets. The shares of both companies are down more than -16.5% in pre-market trading despite the Fed’s best efforts to calm fears by detailing how they would help both companies survive. The concerns regarding the U.S. banking system spread to Asia and Europe as the financial stocks on exchanges there have brought their regions averages lower. The dollar has reacted by losing ground against other currencies, most notably the euro which hit a record $1.60 against the dollar.

GOOG: Would be buyers ahead of earnings@CSTI
Collins Stewart expects an in-line to modest beat quarter with strong international trends when GOOG reports on July 17. Collins points out shares are currently trading below where they closed one day after the company delivered a blockbuster March quarter. The firm reiterates a Buy rating and $615 target.

INTC: Reiterate Neutral rating ahead of Q2 results@JPMS
JP Morgan expects solid Q2 results to lead to a short-term rally in the stock, but sees downside risk to consensus estimates due to decelerating PC demand.

Gutierrez doesn’t expect government to bail out automakers-Detroit Free Press
Carlos Gutierrez, the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, said yesterday in Detroit that he does not expect the government to bail out auto companies. While he acknowledged the challenges facing the Detroit economy, he said he believes that the state’s resources will aid its recovery and urged Congress to make the Bush tax cuts permanent and pass free-trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama.

AAPL: Expect Q3 earnings beat to be more limited this quarter@BERN
Bernstein expects AAPL to report Q3 upside but expects the beat to be more limited as gross margin is unlikely to show significant upside as it did throughout 2006 and 2007. Shares are Market Perform rated.

Google experimenting with variation on Digg-TechCrunch
TechCrunch reports that Google (GOOG) is planning to bucket test new features based on last year’s test of search features that allows users to vote on search results and recommend other results. Reader Adrian Pike provided initial screen shots of the bucket test, in which users may actually be able to change their vote.

US Bancorp-USB capital position remains strong
“Our capital position remains strong, with the Tier 1 capital ratio at June 30, 2008, on target at 8.5 percent. Although we have capacity in our current authorization, we do not anticipate buybacks between now and the end of the year. We will utilize our strong internal capital generation to support our growth initiatives, and rely on our earnings capacity to sustain our dividend and maintain our well-capitalized position,” said Richard Davis, CEO

DNA: Remain buyers of shares into mid-$80s@BARD
Baird said if you look past the headline disappointment, the quarter operationally was impressive driven by across-the-board top line strength.