The rumblings continue. The Teutonic giant of Frankfurt, Deutsche Borse, is still insisting that its offer of cash and shares for Euronext, the pan-Continental stock exchange, is better than the New York Stock Exchange’s offer because of the rise in the German company’s share price.

However, Euronext, which has agreed to the American offer, insists it can’t keep changing its mind on the basis of day-to-day fluctuations in stock prices. It also points out that the NYSE bid is protected by the fact that 30 pc of it is in cash.