Stocks to Watch This Morning

• American International Group Inc. (AIG). U.S. Treasury is re-looking at plans to float the Asian unit of AIG in case a bid by Prudential (PUK) to buy the AIA fails, two British newspapers reported on Sunday. Separately, the company welcomed the Justice Department decision, not specifically identified, in which published reports indicate that federal prosecutors will not charge company executives over credit default swaps.

• BHP Billiton Ltd/Plc (BHP). The global miner wants to take advantage of the current market weakness and is looking worldwide for acquisition opportunities to grow its business, a senior company official said on Monday. The company also said that the recent giant oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has brought some delays to its projects and could hit its production growth forecast of 10 percent for the year ending June 10, and estimates of 8-10 percent next year. Separately, the company set out its case for changes to Australia's proposed new mining tax in talks with government officials on Friday, saying any tax should be based on the value of commodities produced. Meanwhile, BHP said it still sees returns on its petroleum operations in Western Australia and the Gulf of Mexico as competitive, amid tax and regulatory debates affecting the two regions.

• British Petroleum (BP). The British oil major sharply reduced its estimate on Monday of how much oil it is siphoning off each day from a ruptured well in the Gulf of Mexico that has been spewing oil for a month and threatening ecological disaster. Separately, BP will press ahead with a series of short-term options, including one this week, to try to plug its gushing Gulf of Mexico oil well, and these will be attempted before it completes an expected relief well in August, BP Managing Director Bob Dudley said on Sunday.

• Burger King Holdings (BKC). The hamburger chain’s franchisees have won the right to argue in court that the company acted in bad faith when it added its double cheeseburger to its $1 Value Menu.

• Campbell Soup Co. (CPB). The largest soup maker on Monday posted higher sales in its key U.S. soup market, helped by increased promotional spending. The company's third-quarter earnings were 54 cents a share, before items.

• EMC Corp. (EMC). The company's shares, which have already jumped 50 percent in the past year, could climb even more fueled by a recovering economy and strong demand for storage capacity from its corporate customers, according to a story in Barron's.

• Equity One Inc. (EQY). The shopping center owner said on Sunday it would buy Capital Shopping Centres Group Plc's U.S. unit in a $258.3 million deal, helping the company expand into California. The transaction will give British company 4.1 million shares of Equity One common stock and 10.9 million joint venture units.

• First Solar (FSLR). The producer of solar modules, which plans to build the world's largest solar power plant in Inner Mongolia, could hear from China in coming months the amount of subsidy it will get, the company's president said.

• Fluor Corp. (FLR). The company on Monday said it won a series of contracts from Ma`aden and Alcoa (AA) joint venture to provide program management consultancy, engineering, procurement and construction management services for projects related to the development of the integrated Ras Az`Zawr aluminum complex. The company said it expects to book about $3 billion covering four separate scopes of work.

• Marriott International Inc. (MAR). The largest U.S. hotel chain aims to double the number of Marriott brand hotels in China within five years and intends to introduce a lower-priced hotel brand in the near future. Marriott, which currently manages 46 hotels in China, expects to have 60 hotels by the end of the year and 90 in five years, making China its second-largest market by number of hotels, Arne Sorenson, Marriott's president, said in Shanghai on Monday.

• Morgan Stanley (MS). China's securities regulator has started to review the company’s application to sell its roughly $1 billion stake in Chinese investment bank China International Capital Corp, state media reported on Monday. If the application process goes smoothly, Morgan Stanley could obtain regulatory approval to sell its 34.3 percent stake in CICC within around three months, the official Shanghai Securities News said, citing unnamed sources.

• News Corp. (NWSA). An Italian court on Monday rejected an appeal against the sale of satellite TV soccer rights to News Corp unit Sky Italia, averting possible financial problems for Italian clubs. The appeal was filed by Conto TV, a small satellite operator. Conto claimed the way Serie A rights for the next two seasons were sold to Sky Italia was unfair.

• Rio Tinto (RTP). The global miner described Australia as its top sovereign risk on Monday and said it was reviewing all investments there as its raised pressure on Canberra to overhaul its planned new mining tax.

• Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa). The oil major has started commissioning the first phase of its multi-billion dollar Pearl gas-to-liquids project in Qatar, an executive of the plant said on Monday. The GTL plant, which Shell describes as the world's largest energy project, has a price tag of up to $19 billion.

• Sherwin-Williams Co. (SHW). The largest U.S. paint maker on Monday said it will buy wood coatings maker Becker Acroma Industrial Wood Coatings for an undisclosed sum, in a bid to expand its global footprint. The deal, subject to regulatory approvals, is slated to close in the third aquarter

• Sony Corp. (SNE). The company’s CEO is set to meet rival Samsung Electronics, for possible alliances, as the Japanese consumer electronics maker aims to turn its TV business profitable with aggressive sales targets.

• Sprint Nextel (S). Shares of the carrier could rise to about $6 a share, helped by the introduction of a mobile phone that works on it's new high-speed network, according to business weekly Barron's. The newspaper said in its May 24 edition that Sprint's total subscriber base could grow as it takes the lead with a phone that runs on its "4G" network, which it promises will deliver speeds up to 10 times faster than existing networks.

• UAL Corp. (UAUA). A U.S. Senate subcommittee is set to examine the proposed airline deal between the company’s United Airlines and Continental Airlines (CAL) on Thursday that will study the implications for airline consumers.

• Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ). The company won final U.S. regulatory approval on Friday to sell 4.8 million rural phone lines to Frontier Communications Corp (FTR) for about $5.25 billion in stock.

• Walt Disney Co. (DIS). Billionaire Ron Burkle and Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein on Friday said they were continuing efforts to buy the company's Miramax Films, playing down media reports that the long-gestating deal had fallen through.

• Whirlpool Corp. (WHR). The Indian unit of global appliances maker plans to hike product prices by 2-3 percent in the next 2 months, a top official said. The firm has also revised its investment in India to 4 billion rupees over 3 years, starting this fiscal. The firm also plans to launch a new range of higher end washing machines by September this year and boost distribution.