The holidays are almost over. Children are getting ready for school and, public transport is getting crowded again, and most of us are preparing to get our heads back down to work for the four-month slog up to the Christmas and New Year holidays.
Two US equity trading platforms have expanded their European operations putting further pressure on the incumbent exchanges as other venues have launched in the region and gained market share.
A year ago this summer a hedge fund run by the collapsed bank Bear Stearns that invested in high-risk mortgage-backed securities fell in value by 23%. It marked the start of what has been 12 months of turmoil in the financial markets, which has claimed the jobs of some of Wall Street’s biggest names, brought its proudest banks to their knees after billion dollar writedowns and made “sub-prime” the buzzword for an industry still reeling from the effects of a global credit crunch.