Never has there been more uncertainty about the future structure of the world’s stockmarkets.
For five years, the creation of a dominant European stock exchange looked inevitable. The three major European exchanges – Deutsche Börse, Euronext and the London Stock Exchange (LSE) – made offers for each other, were rebuffed, and made further counter-offers. Yet this year, it is quite possible that two of these exchanges will be bought by their major US counterparts. Euronext has agreed a merger with the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), and the Nasdaq is making a hostile bid for the LSE. And this, after a long period of indifference to international deals on the part of the NYSE, and a long series of international failures on the part of Nasdaq.