Stock Market News Briefs: Allegheny Energy, Inc., Bank Of New York Mellon Corporation (The), Citigroup Inc., FirstEnergy Corporation, Marriot International, Mirant Corp, PNC Bank Corp., V.F. Corporation, Viacom, Inc., Palm, Inc.

•  Marriott International (MAR: 26.66 0.00 0.00%) reported a fourth-quarter profit of 28 cents from continuing operations versus estimates of 25 cents as revenues fell to $3.38 billion from $3.78 billion last year, but beat estimates of $3.21 billion. The company provided inline full year guidance of 82-94 cents

•  Viacom (VIA: 30.04 0.00 0.00%) topped analysts’ projections with fourth quarter adjusted earnings from continuing operations of $1.09, ahead of 87 cent estimates. Revenues of $4.1 billion fell 3% from a year earlier, below estimates of $4.2 billion

•  FirstEnergy (FE: 39.59 0.00 0.00%) and Allegheny (AYE: 23.55 0.00 0.00%) announced unanimous approval of FirstEnergy’s all-stock acquisition of Allegheny for $4.7 billion, or $27.65 per share

•  VF Corp (VFC: 74.35 0.00 0.00%) beat earnings expectations with fourth quarter results of $1.62, ahead of expectations of $1.47, on revenue of $1.92 billion

•  PNC Financial (PNC: 51.40 0.00 0.00%) paid $7.6 billion to exit the government TARP program

•  Mirant (MIR: 13.45 0.00 0.00%) coverage was initiated by Deutsche Bank (BK: 27.46 0.00 0.00%) at a “sell,” with an $11 price target

•  Palm (PALM: 9.62 0.00 0.00%) shares were upgraded at Citigroup (C: 3.21 0.00 0.00%) to “hold,” with a $10 price tag