Nyse, Stock Market | featured news

The New York Stock Exchange, an icon of American capitalism, is expected to take a crucial step toward ceding control to a German company on Thursday, with little opposition expected from investors.

Nasdaq and IntercontinentalExchange are withdrawing their proposed $11 billion bid for the parent of the New York Stock Exchange after recognizing they would not receive regulatory approval for the transaction.

Nasdaq OMX and IntercontinentalExchange said they will take their bid for NYSE Euronext directly to shareholders after being rebuffed twice by the exchange.

The parent company of the New York Stock Exchange said Sunday that it rejected an $11.3-billion bid from Nasdaq and IntercontinentalExchange to buy the company.

Nasdaq OMX Group Inc.'s potential hostile bid for NYSE Euronext would face substantial antitrust questions in the U.S., where it would merge two direct competitors and create a monopoly in the market for corporate listings, according to antitrust lawyers.

NYSE Euronext and Deutsche Borse agreed on Tuesday to a $10 billion all-stock merger, bringing together two stock exchanges into a trans-Atlantic powerhouse.

NYSE recommended that regulators seek out a broad-based stock index like the S&P 500 to underlie a new circuit breaker that would halt all U.S. stock trading if conditions become too volatile.

US home loan giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are to cease trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).