Text size [+][-] Saturday November 21 2009GLOBAL EDITION
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Herman Van Rompuy lacks the star power that other candidates for the first president of the EU Council may have had. But the former Belgian PM has a chance to make the job an effective one, if he wastes no time showing he can stand up to the Franco-German entente.
The UK regulator is to have new powers to restrict short selling. The prospect of the authorities directly intervening in the market is alarming. If shorting poses a threat, an intelligent disclosure regime should suffice to ensure an orderly market.
It’s hard for investors or the media to do more than turn their noses up at the three-way scrum between North American fertilizer groups. But the $9bn-worth of bids has helped Wall Street banks, lawyers and PR firms keep the lights on. Its passing will leave a fee void.
The influential US congressman wants to keep on standby the FDIC’s bank debt guarantee programme, saying it “made a profit for the federal government”. With FDIC still on the hook, that sounds a bit like the book profits now, worry later attitude on Wall Street before the crisis.
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Even when you don't agree, it still makes you think. Charles Sherwood, partner and member of the board, Permira
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