Matthew Lynn (whose opinions are his own), writing in Bloomberg.com, claims that European stock exchanges don’t need American owners.

“Amid all the excitement, it would be easy to overlook a simple yet pertinent question. Will any of these mergers actually create stronger companies? ”

Good question, Matthew, now give it some wellie.

“The answer is almost certainly no. Europe’s capital markets are doing just fine the way they are. Indeed, merging either Euronext with the NYSE, or combining the London Stock Exchange with Nasdaq would produce weaker businesses, at least in Europe.”

Isn’t that the point? A weaker European market makes for a stronger one in the U.S?

“In a global economy, a global stock market sounds like a good idea. Anything that managed to combine European and U.S. capital markets would be a formidable beast. ‘Considerable synergies from consolidation still exist,’ Credit Suisse Group said in a note to investors last week.”

Despite the combined numbers and the possible “synergies” (does that include Sarbanes-Oxley regulation?), London and Paris should hang on to their empires, Lynn suggests.

He gives five reasons for this, the first being:

“One, the case for a global or trans-Atlantic exchange has yet to be made. Investors are already able to put their money anywhere in the world. Europeans can invest in U.S. companies at the push of a button, and vice versa. Anyone who isn’t comfortable trading shares on a foreign exchange should stay out of the international market. So it is hard to see what advantages there are to combining exchanges under a single corporate banner.”

Real sense at last. Shareholders should wake up to their responsibilities as well as the potential short-term gains.

“There is no need for the Europeans to get caught up in what is essentially a U.S. contest — particularly since they are likely to end up as collateral damage…. Euronext and London Stock Exchange are potentially great companies — but only if they stay independent.”

Read the whole of Matthew Lynn’s article.

Slightly off-topic, but still in the arena of stock markets, we can report that the doughty Dow Jones industrial index of shares on Wall Street is an astonishing 110 years old.

That’s a very good age for a quasi-scientific metric of share values. Created by Charles Dow, editor of The Wall Street Journal, it started with just 12 constituent companies, and even now has only 30.

Changes to the Dow are rare and at the whim of individual editors conscious of the tradition. They don’t deal much with market capitalizations or alternative measures considered objective by rival operators. It’s unscientific and market professionals mostly use the S&P 500. As the Times comments: “… for many it remains the unquestioned barometer of US capitalism.”

We wish them every success for the next 110 years.

Deutsche Borse appears increasingly isolated in the latest round of The Dance of the Stock Exchanges.

Having sat out a string of waltzes in recent months and been turned down by many a handsome beau, it now finds itself without a potential partner in the quickstep and gallop. Who will save The Last Waltz for the stodgy German market? Will it even make the celebratory conga?

As many a prospective partner has discovered, Deutsche Borse likes to have its own way. It insists any new headquarters must be in Frankfurt, for example, while offering small concessions here and there.

At a time when only the sharpest knives in the box with the fleetest of feet will triumph, it announced at its shareholder meeting that it’s not willing to pursue a deal at any cost with its preferred partner, Euronext.

The brash Americans continue to call the shots with the more than willing pan-Continental temptress.

Faint heart never won fair maiden. Is it all over for the teutonic giant?

Is it all over bar the shouting? Is the London Stock Exchange’s proud 300-year-old history about to be swallowed up by America’s second-string stock market?

Nasdaq is certainly making confident noises following its swoop on a 25pc stake, even praising and schmoozing Clara Furse and her team at the LSE.

Robert Greifeld, CEO of Nasdaq, pressed home his advantage yesterday in a speech in New York in which he declared himself “maniacally focused” on Nasdaq becoming the world’s top equity market.

He further remarked that he is delighted with the LSE stake and that he “admires the strong management team led by Clara Furse”. He would honour the culture, traditions and regulatory environment in which the exchange operates.

Brave words, but he doesn’t have the US SEC in his pocket. I suspect the LSE would require more than assurances before biting this particular bullet.