Stocks to watch for Thursday, May 22, 2008:
 

• AMR Corp's (AMR) American Airlines said it will cut the number of seats offered by up to 12% in the 4Q, the largest cut since the events of September 11, 2001. AMR will remove at least 75 of the 954 aircraft in its fleets. The company also said it will start charging some domestic passengers $15 to check a suitcase.
• NRG Energy (NRG) made an unsolicited bid to purchase its rival Calpine (CPN) for about $11 billion in stock, reported Reuters. Calpine shareholders would receive 0.534 shares of NRG stock for every Calpine share, valuing it at $22.70 a share for a 6.7% premium on Wednesday's closing price. CPN emerged from bankruptcy earlier this year.
• SLM Corp. (SLM) says it will reportedly continue to make federally guaranteed student loans amid fears it will be further affected by the credit crisis, reported The Wall Street Journal. The news comes in the wake of the Bush administration saying it will use U.S. Treasury funds to buy loans from lenders and invest in special loan-backed trusts.
• UBS (UBS) will reportedly raise $15.5 billion in a rights issue at a 31% discount below the current share price, reported the Associated Press. The company will sell new shares at 21 francs ($20.09) each to existing shareholders, compared with the closing price of 30.64 francs on the Zurich exchange Wednesday.

Market Recap
 

• Asian trading closed with the Hang Seng -1.64%, Nikkei +0.37%, Sensex -1.95%, Taiwan -0.08% and Shanghai -1.65%.
• A quick check of Europe finds the CAC -0.54%, DAX -0.48%, FTSE +0.12%, Swiss Mkt. -0.95% and Stockholm -0.71%.
• In commodities, crude oil is trading higher +1.23 to 134.10 while gold is lower -3.5 to 925.1 this morning.