However, the European Commission blocked the deal because it said it would have created a “near monopoly” in European financial derivatives.

NYSE Euronext and Deutsche Boerse said they would now end the deal, which was announced in February last year.

“This is a black day for Europe and its global competitiveness on financial markets,” said Deutsche Boerse chief executive Reto Francioni.

NYSE Euronext chairman Jan-Michiel Hessels said: “While we are disappointed and strongly disagree with the EU decision, which is based on a fundamentally different understanding of the derivatives market, it is now time to move on.”

NYSE said it would now resume a $550m (£347m) share buy-back programme. The European Commission said the planned tie-up would have controlled more than 90% of global trade in European financial derivatives.

“These markets are at the heart of the financial system and it is crucial for the whole European economy that they remain competitive,” said EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia.

“We tried to find a solution, but the remedies offered fell far short of resolving the concerns.”

Fiscal first quarter net income from continuing operations fell 5 percent to $591 million from $620 million in the year-ago quarter.

But earnings per share rose 4 percent to $1.06 following an aggressive share buyback during the period. Analysts on average had been expecting profit to come in at $1.05 according to Thomson Reuters.

Revenue rose 3 percent to $3.95 billion. “Despite short term softness in the overall ad markets, Viacom’s quarterly results benefited from strong affiliate fee revenue growth,” said Viacom Chief Executive Philippe Dauman in a statement.

Viacom spent $700 million buying back some 16.2 million shares during the quarter.

The company, which makes chips used in cellphones and other wireless devices, posted fiscal first-quarter earnings excluding items of 97 cents per share, up from 82 cents a share in the year-earlier period.

Net income was $1.395 billion, up from $1.17 billion a year ago. Revenue was $4.68 billion, a 40-percent increase from $3.35 billion a year ago.

Analysts had expected the company to report earnings excluding items of 90 cents a share on $4.58 billion in revenue, according to Thomson Reuters.

The company said it expects earnings for the current quarter, which ends March 12, to be between 91 and 97 cents a share. The current consensus was for 89 cents a share.

The IMF warned that if the West imposed financial sanctions on Iran, it would be tantamount to an oil blockade, and the shock to the market could be as bad as from Libya’s revolution last year.

Iran produces 5% of global oil output. Moreover, if Iran goes ahead with a threat to blockade oil exports via the Straits of Hormuz in the Gulf, the IMF said the shock could be even greater.

About a quarter of all oil produced globally, and some 40% of all oil exports – including those from Iraq, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia – are shipped through the Straits each year.

“A blockade of the Strait of Hormuz would constitute, and be perceived by markets to presage, sharply heightened global geopolitical tension involving a much larger and unprecedented disruption,” the Fund said in a regular note to the Group of 20 leading industrialized countries.

The economy grew at an annualized rate of 2.8%, the Commerce Department said. This was up from the 1.8% annual rate recorded in the previous quarter, although it was slightly lower than the 3% rate predicted by analysts.

However, the growth largely came from businesses stockpiling goods they had produced, rather than selling them.

Although the stockpiling lifted the figures, analysts believe businesses will not continue doing this, resulting in a lower growth figure for the current quarter.

The pace of consumer spending picked up to 2% from 1.7% in the previous quarter.

Much of this was attributed to an increase in sales of new cars, which rose by 14.8% over the quarter.

The Japanese tsunami last March disrupted production and delivery of models for major manufacturers, leaving customers waiting for pre-ordered cars.

The company plans to file papers with the US financial watchdog on Wednesday, according to the Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal.

The flotation later this year would raise about $10bn, they reported.
This would be one of the biggest share sales seen on Wall Street.

It would dwarf the $1.9bn raised by Google when it went public in 2004.

It would still, however, be some way short of the $20bn raised by carmaker General Motors in November 2010.

The reports suggest that Morgan Stanley will be the lead underwriter for the sale, with Goldman Sachs also expected to be heavily involved.

Rumors of Facebook’s so-called initial public offering (IPO) have circulated for many months, and the company has maintained it will not comment on the subject.

The reported valuation would make Facebook one of the world’s biggest companies by market capitalization.

“Facebook a brilliant achievement, but $75-$100bn? Would make Apple look really cheap,” said Rupert Murdoch on Twitter.

The ISM survey of US services covers industries ranging from utilities and retailing, to healthcare and finance.

It comes on the same day a survey showed numbers of new private sector jobs in the US surged in December.

The ADP National Employment Report’s December job tally rose by 325,000 – compared to 204,000 in November.

The figure, released on Thursday, was almost double the 178,000 estimated by economists.

It comes a day before an official government report is expected to show that the US economy added 150,000 public and private sector jobs last month.

Wayne Kaufman, chief market analyst at John Thomas Financial in New York, said the ADP report was “stunning”.

He said: “This is another data point that shows our economy is healing.

“It fits in well with improvements we’ve seen in consumer sentiment, and obviously that’s because there are more people getting paychecks, which is making everyone happier.”

The South Korean firm said it expects operating profits for the period to be $4.5bn, 73% higher than a year a earlier.

Samsung overtook Apple as the world’s biggest-selling smartphone maker in the second half of last year. The firms have been locked in a number of patent battles in recent months.

Analysts said Samsung’s profits were likely to grow again this year.

“Samsung is likely to continue record-breaking earnings this year as earnings from flat screens and memory chips will improve, making up for any potential slowdown in handset growth rates,” said Lee Seung-woo at Shinyoung Securities.

“I’d expect profits to grow by another 5tn won this year.” The company is due to publish its official results for the fourth quarter of 2011 later this month.

Sinopec will get a one-third stake in five new shale projects, with the firms expecting to drill 125 wells this year.

China has been buying energy sources to feed its fast-growing economy, and wants to improve its ability to extract domestic shale deposits.

China has some of the biggest shale deposits in the world. Analysts said that the recent increase in demand for shale oil and gas meant that many companies were now looking to tie-ups to help them expand quickly.

Sinopec, meanwhile, is not alone in trying to access US shale deposits, and France’s Total announced a separate $2.3bn shale deal with Chesapeake Energy and EnerVest.

“It looks like the preferred transaction structure for a lot of these players, whether they are European or Asian, who are behind the curve on this technology,” said Mark Hanson of Morningstar.

Under the terms of the deal with Devon, Sinopec will pay $900m in cash, with the remainder of the investment being paid by the end of 2014.

The deal could be worth as much as $2.5bn when all the payments are made.

“This arrangement improves Devon’s capital efficiency by recovering our land and drilling costs to date and by significantly reducing our future capital commitments,” John Richels, Devon’s president and chief executive, said in a statement.

The firms were accused in 8 US states of working together to raise the price of screens for TVs and computers.

Despite the $553m payout they have continued to deny responsibility for the claims.

However New York Attorney General, Eric Schneiderman, said the result was a victory for states.

“This price-fixing scheme manipulated the playing field for businesses that abide by the rules, and left consumers to pay artificially higher costs for televisions, computers and other electronics,” said Mr Schneiderman in a statement.

The firms involved in the settlement were Chi Mei Innolux, Chunghwa Picture Tubes, Epson, HannStar, Hitachi, Samsung and Sharp.

Samsung has agreed to pay $240m, Sharp $115.5m and Chimei Innolux $110m.