Under the counter

Date with the fightThe battle between ICE and CME to win the approval of CBoT, not to mention its valuable trading franchise and impressive headquarters, is increasingly coming to resemble a struggle for the heart of a high school cheerleader between the football team's quarterback and a bespectacled nerd. While the cheerleader's heart might be in the right place, and while she no doubt respects her mother's advice to treat both suitors on their merits and not be blind to the less obvious charms of the maths club president, everyone in the world knows that come prom night she'll be appearing in the dance hall on the arm of Brad rather than Poindexter. I say this, naturally, with the greatest of sympathy for ICE, not least because I have seen the...