WASHINGTON – US consumer confidence showed slender gains in July but still reflected a “grim” assessment of economic conditions, the Conference Board reported Tuesday.

MADRID – British Airways Plc and Spain’s Iberia SA have revealed they are in merger talks, signaling a potential deal that could also form the basis of a three-way trans-Atlantic combination.

WASHINGTON – The decline in home values in major cities accelerated in May amid a lingering property slump, but prices in some areas showed improvement, a survey showed Tuesday.

NEW YORK – Starbucks says it is cutting almost 1,000 non-store jobs by July 29 as part of its bid to re-energise the brand and boost its profit by cutting costs.

NEW YORK – Merrill Lynch announced yesterday it was dumping billions of dollars of mortgage debt at a steep loss and raising $US8.5 billion ($A8.9 billion) in new capital, including the $US3.4 billion ($A3.5 billion) from Temasek.

TOKYO – Struggling automaker Mitsubishi Motors, which closed its Australian factory earlier this year, returned to the black in the quarter through June.

LOS ANGELES – Entertainment company Viacom Inc says its second-quarter revenue rose 21 per cent to US$3.86 billion on a strong film slate but its net profit slipped when compared to second quarter last year, when it saw a large one-time gain.

SAN FRANCISCO – Billionaire investor T. Boone Pickens has sold all of his holdings in Yahoo Inc in a pique over the way the Internet company’s management handled sales talks with Microsoft Corp.

LOCAL NEWS

SYDNEY – The collapse of world trade talks in Geneva overnight is a major setback for the world economy, Australian Trade Minister Simon Crean says.

SYDNEY – The NSW government was warned that the north-west metro line would damage the state economy a month before it was announced.

MELBOURNE – International coffee chain Starbucks will close 61 Australian stores within days, shedding 685 jobs as part of a strategy to slash underperforming outlets and boost profits.

Stocks to watch on the Australian stock exchange today:

ANZ – ANZ BANKING GROUP LTD – down 28 cents to $15.53
NAB – NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LTD – down $1.02 to $24.78
CBA – COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA LTD – down $1.77 to $39.33
WBC – WESTPAC BANKING CORP LTD – down 12 cents to $20.12
Banking stocks continued to fall after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said the credit crisis stemming from the US housing slump had triggered a “negative feedback loop” in the global economy while and an end to the slump is “not visible”.

ALS – ALECSO CORP LTD – down $1.06 to $6.75
Shares in Alesco Corp Ltd fell after the wholesale brands company warned the outlook for fiscal 2009 was challenging.
Alesco earlier today reported a 31.8 per cent lift in net profit for the year ended May 31 rose to $57.97 million.
Operating earnings rose 36.9 per cent to $72.3 million.

STO – SANTOS LTD – up 51 cents to $17.60
Santos Ltd has appointed its current acting chief executive David Knox as CEO and managing director of the oil producer, effective immediately.

HVN – HARVEY NORMAN HOLDINGS LTD – down three cents to $3.28
Australia’s biggest electronics retailer Harvey Norman Holding Ltd has booked an 8.7 per cent lift in full year sales to $5.81 billion.
However, this was lower than the stellar growth achieved in 2006/07 and sales slowed in the fourth quarter.

APE – AP EAGERS LTD – up 10 cents to $10.20
Automotive parts and services provider AP Eagers Ltd has reported a sharp rise in first half pre-tax profit after it received a tax refund of overpaid GST.
The firm posted an unaudited profit before tax of $28.1 million for the six months to June 30, up from $16.4 million in the previous corresponding period.

BKN – BRADKEN LTD – trading halt; last traded at $8.84
Mining and freight services company Bradken Ltd has agreed to acquire the 83 per cent of AmeriCast Technologies Inc that it does not already own for $114 million.

QAN – QANTAS AIRWAYS LTD – down 15 cents to $3.28
Qantas has rubbished reports of a new mid-air emergency after a Melbourne-bound passenger jet was forced to return to Adelaide.

CEY – CENTENNIAL COAL LTD – up six cents to $4.60
Centennial Coal Ltd, the supplier of 47 per cent of New South Wales’ coal-fired electricity, has forecast increased profitability this financial year after a rise in output for the quarter.

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