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.

Robert Greifeld is President and Chief Executive Officer of the Nasdaq Stock Market. He has led the American exchange’s nimble, but risky, bid to buy the London Stock Exchange, despite hostility from the LSE board. The company currently holds more that 25pc of LSE shares, and has the opportunity of mounting a full bid in September. Most commentators expect that to happen in the event of an amicable deal proving impossible.

According to Nasdaq’s website :

“NASDAQ is an open, electronic marketplace that supports competition and provides companies and investors with the best outcome. Our mission is to be the premier U.S. equities market.”

Robert Greifeld is President and Chief Executive Officer of The Nasdaq Stock Market, Inc. (NASDAQ: NDAQ), the largest U.S. electronic stock market. Since joining NASDAQ in May 2003, Greifeld has taken steps to sharpen the company’s strategic direction, focusing its mission on being the premier U.S. equities market. The market’s focus is to provide the most efficient, transparent trading platform for investors by leveraging NASDAQ’s advanced trading technology; to capture the majority of U.S. IPOs and attract listings from competitive exchanges.

Tapping his 20-year industry experience and leadership with electronic trading systems, Greifeld has led a significant enhancement of NASDAQ’s trading offerings. In March 2004, he oversaw the launch of NASDAQ’s market center-a newly integrated system capable of trading of NASDAQ, NYSE, AMEX-listed securities and exchange traded funds on a single electronic platform. In January of 2004, Greifeld spearheaded NASDAQ’s innovative “dual listing” program, which for the first time allowed NYSE-listed companies to list on NASDAQ. This innovative initiative made worldwide news and significantly ratcheted up the debate regarding efficient electronic markets versus manual, floor-based exchanges. Greifeld has been a vocal advocate for modernizing market structure and increasing public company CEO attention on the performance and quality of stock markets for the benefit of company shareholders and all investors.

In May 2004, Greifeld led NASDAQ’s decision to acquire BRUT ECN from SunGard Data Systems (NYSE: SDS). The BRUT acquisition provides NASDAQ trading systems with additional capabilities, including advanced order routing. Most recently, in April 2005, NASDAQ announced a definitive agreement to purchase the INET ECN.

Greifeld is an active speaker on financial market structure and regulatory issues. He has been vocal in Washington regarding enhancements to Sarbanes-Oxley for small companies and the use of stock options as a tool for business and economic growth. Greifeld has addressed organizations including The Investment Company Institute, the National Press Club, and the World Economic Forum.

Prior to joining NASDAQ, Greifeld was an Executive Vice President with SunGard Data Systems Inc., a $6.2 billion market cap company, where he was responsible for all of SunGard’s sell-side businesses and its buy-side transaction routing businesses. While serving as President Chief Operating Officer of Automated Securities Clearance, Inc. (ASC) from 1991-1999, Mr. Greifeld led the team that created BRASS and made it the industry standard trade order management system for NASDAQ stocks.

Greifeld holds a Masters in Business from New York University, Stern School of Business and B.A. in English from Iona College. His graduate school thesis was on the operation of The NASDAQ Stock Market.

Greifeld is an avid runner and has completed four marathons. He was recently named Chairman of the USA Track & Field Foundation.

Technology shares are holding back the Nasdaq indices at severely depressed levels, reports the National Post of Canada.

Nasdaq holds more than 25pc of London Stock Exchange shares and is widely thought to be planning a full-scale bid for the autumn.

“North American stock market indexes have largely recovered from the meltdown earlier this decade, but the Nasdaq-100 stands out as an exception. The Dow Jones industrial average is just 5.7% away from breaking a new high and the S&P/TSX composite index is already 2.1% above its 2000 peak. The tech-heavy Nasdaq, despite a few recent rallies, remains deep under water. It is 65% below its 2000 high and would have to rally about 200% to return to its dot-com heyday.”

But could this be an opportunity for risk-takers? If you like to buy low and aim to sell high, this may be your chance. “However, some investments are beaten up and unloved for good reasons — which is why, to many observers [these stocks], regardless of their apparent discount, should be given a wide berth.”

“You can find good stocks,” said Donald Coxe, global portfolio strategist at BMO Financial Group and chairman of Harris Investment Management. “But it’s like fishing. Sometimes you can find a fish in a part of the lake where there are almost no fish because you just happen to be cruising by. You’re better to fish in an area where there are lots of fish.”

We thought the Teutonic giant wouldn’t stay comatose for long. Spurred on, no doubt, by the dubious support of French President Jacques Chirac, Deutsche Borse has begun to think the unthinkable on a challenge to the American takeover of the pan-Continental exchange conglomerate, Euronext.

On Monday, the supervisory board of the German exchange meets to consider new proposals in the matter of Euronext. It’s thought the fresh suggestions include moving some operational areas from Frankfurt to Paris to assuage the nationalistic sensitivities of the French.

They would also embody a higher cash offer than previously made, reducing the proportion of shares in the bid.

If the board approves the plan, Deutsche Borse will place a new bid for the Paris-based company on the table. Some shareholders in Euronext are known to favour a European solution, but NYSE may well be pushed to up its offer. This is not over yet.