Just what is Goldman Sachs doing buying Spear Leeds Kellogg for $6.5 billion? Is this not the same Goldman Sachs which just six months ago, together with Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, was sending executives down to Washington to lobby regulators at the SEC and politicians in Congress, to take steps which might do away with such businesses? And didn't Merrill buy a similar operation in June, Herzog Heine Geduld? The object of the big firms' desire was a central limit order book (CLOB) for US equities trading. Without it, ran their argument, equities trading would continue to fragment between electronic order matching via ECNs, and electronic quote-driven market making systems. Fragmentation, they continued, would run counter to a broker's duty to execute at the best price, so a far better platform for clients would be the CLOB.

One of the longest-running sagas in asset management is finally set to come to a head - well, in another year's time at least.

OM Gruppen’s takeover bid for the London Stock Exchange is a symbol of Scandinavia’s technological edge in financial services. Nigel Dudley reports

Fiercely independent managers grew their research-oriented boutique from little Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette into one of the most successful Wall Street firms in the best businesses: equities, high-yield debt, private equity and online broking. For years, DLJ clung to its distinctive culture while owner Axa happily pocketed dividends. Now the French insurer has tossed it to CSFB and no-one knows if the two can work together.

Investors responding to Global Investors’ poll voted the following brokers as the best in Europe. By Ben Wright

When the euro was first launched in January 1999, the consensus was that a strong central bank, a huge trade surplus and low inflation would drive the new currency upwards from its opening level of $1.17. I had little confidence in that view.

Not only western governments are worried by the oil price. Oil wealth has left Arabian Gulf countries ill-equipped to develop dynamic economies that can cope with the needs of growing populations. Abu Dhabi is aware of the dangers of this inertia but Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Abdullah is the man doing most to change attitudes and structures. Michael Field reports

Following a banner year for convertible bonds in 1999, bankers had hoped that the European corporate restructuring wave, capital gains tax changes in Germany, and benign economic conditions would spur the market to even greater heights in 2000. They have been disappointed by a light new issue calendar. However the market is hopeful of an upturn. Chris Cockerill reports

They throw 80% of research straight into the bin; regard sell-side analysts as reactive and herdlike; and suggest that brokers see small hedge funds as being more valuable clients than major asset managers. So is there anything about brokers’ research that fund managers actually like? A panel of investors give their views. By Graham Field.

With foreign exchange platforms popping up all over the internet, competition and consolidation are sure to separate the winners from the losers. But will the web’s power to disintermediate ever allow corporate users of forex services to trade currencies directly with each other? Rick Butler reports

A crucial prerequisite of Japanese economic rejuvenation looks to be a burst of merger and acquisitions activity Or so many of the investment banks that would arrange such deals say. With the notable exception of the auto industry, corporate Japan is more hesitant. Legal changes have made M&A easier, but corporate culture remains a stumbling block. Kevin Rafferty reports

The EBRD is coming under a barrage of fire for its lending policy in Russia. Over the last nine months the pace of lending has been picking up momentum. But the bank is catching flak for three big deals.

An ever-increasing blizzard of broker research is making it difficult for equity analysts to deliver visionary advice. By altering their coverage, delivery mediums and client relationships, research departments at sell-side houses in Europe are working hard to stand out from the crowd. By Rick Butler

Guy Hands made his name at Nomura International buying pubs. However it was his move for the Millennium Dome, followed by his decision to drop the bid, that brought him into the public consciousness in the UK. With the Dome already fading into the distance, Hands’ Principal Finance Group is dusting itself off and looking for other business ventures to invest in. He tells Julian Marshall why his great white hope turned into a white elephant and what his plans are now

After 40 years of self-imposed isolation, Syria has finally opened its doors to foreign banks. Last month the economy minister Mohammed al-Imadi issued banking licenses to the three Lebanese institutions: Banque Européene pour le Moyen Orient, Fransabank and Société Générale Libano-Européene de Banque (SGLEB).

Emerging market governments can default on their international bonds with impunity. That seemed to be the clear message on August 23 when Ecuador secured the support of 99% of investors for its oVer to swap defaulted Brady and Eurobonds for paper worth 41% less than the old debt.

Issuer: Telefónica Amount: $6 billion equivalent Type of issue: Global bond Date of issue: September 15

The European Central Bank's intervention on Friday, 22 September in support of the falling euro, acting in cooperation with the Bank of Japan and the US Federal Reserve, briefly evoked memories of the 1985 Plaza accord which successfully drove down the dollar. But the time when world central banks could dictate exchange rates to the markets have passed.

I'm sitting on the 86th floor of the world's tallest hotel and its third-highest building, sipping a $5 bottle of Tsingtao beer, and I don't feel welcome. Even though I'm a guest, the waiting staff have glanced with obvious disapproval at my jeans and at the fake designer polo shirt I picked up for next to nothing in Beijing, and frogmarched me towards an uncomfortable high-backed stool in a quiet and poorly lit corner of the bar.

Capital markets in the Gulf are rich with potential. The markets are developing rapidly, especially in the UAE, but international investors will only get involved once the requisite legal framework is in place. By Nigel Page

Why would anyone want to murder a portfolio manager? Well it seems there is so much professional jealousy on Wall Street that former fund manager Cliff Cavanaugh runs a detective agency just to nail those cads who pick off stockpickers.

At last month's IMF/World Bank meeting, amid the rococo splendour of Prague's Kaunicky Palace, Padraic Fallon, chairman of Euromoney Institutional Investor, presented the annual finance minister of the year award to Slovakia's Brigita Schmögnerová and the central bank governor of the year award to Turkey's Gazi Ercel.

Want to find out who the financial markets think will be the next US president but don't have the time to pore through a forest's worth of research? Take a look at the futures exchange dedicated to tracking just that.

On the evening before violent protesters disrupted this year's IMF/World Bank meeting in Prague, Jim Wolfensohn, president of the World Bank joined a panel discussing globalization with some untypical guests: Hong Kong trade union leader Elizabeth Tang and Paul Hewson, better known as Bono, lead singer of the Irish rock group U2.

Germany Inc doesn’t like outsiders, especially those challenging the fundamental building blocks of German finance. Cobra, a group of opportunistic shareholders, took on Commerzbank and forced it to consider change. But things didn’t go as planned and both sides are licking their wounds. What’s next in the game of who gets what and who pairs off with whom? David Shirreff reports

At the World Bank/IMF annual meetings in Hong Kong three years ago the powerful interim committee gave the IMF a green light for yet another mission. The fund was keen to promote unrestricted international capital movements.

The recent mergers of CSFB with DLJ and JP Morgan with Chase signal a new desperation among those near bulge bracket firms to amass the scale, capital strength and full product capability they consider crucial if they are ever to gain entry to the very top ranks of global investment banking. In recent years, Wall Street firms have busily allied with retail distributors and acquired specialist boutique firms. But such full-blown mergers of large investment banks are something quite new. For these deals to succeed, profound misgivings will have to be overcome among many senior managers at DLJ and JP Morgan: firms that have traditionally stayed aloof from Wall Street alliances and have strong cultures. Although it's not clear these mergers will help firms leap ahead, it's quite certain the merging firms' rivals will take advantage of any discontent. Antony Currie reports

Chase Manhattan has never made a secret of its desire to buy an equities franchise to complete the line-up of its wholesale and investment-banking operations. So the announcement on September 12 that it was buying JP Morgan for about $35 billion was no great surprise. But it is also well known that JP Morgan was far from being Chase’s first-choice partner. It would have preferred a deal with Merrill. Inside Morgan, too, there is lingering disappointment that the bank could not complete its transformation into global investment bank unaided. The two sides must put these disappointments aside quickly.

Head of fixed income, Aspect Capital.

The news last month that Optimark has failed in its bid to change the dynamics of US equities trading stands as a timely reminder of the difficulties e-commerce start-ups face.