The New York Stock Exchange-Euronext deal is all but tied up, and Nasdaq is still rubbing its wounds after losing its battle to buy the London Stock Exchange.

Another disappointed suitor, however, has hit back with a major purchase. Deutsche Borse is to pay £1.4 billion for the International Securities Exchange, an options trading platform, based in New York.

The deal will beef up the German exchange’s Eurex derivative platform — a joint enterprise with Swiss exchange SWX. It also smartly tucks away mony the hedge funds were asking to be returned to them.

And what is the LSE doing amid this flurry of activity? Clara Furse is stoutly concentrating on internal matters, like the EDX, its challenger to Liffe which escaped her clutches a few years ago.

Independence means independence then!

The big banks rival to the London Stock Exchange, Project Turquoise, steps up a gear with the appointment of EuroCPP as its clearing and settlement system.

The new European share trading platform is the baby of seven investment banks, including Merrill Lynch, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs.

Project Turquoise is set to begin trading in all European shares by the end of this year, lowering business prospects for the LSE.

The group has yet to appoint a chief executive, however.