Most of the market will be enchanted at the moment by a young bespectacled boy who carries a broom, wears a big baggy cloak and promises eternal life to anyone who can find his magic pebble. No, he is not an Islandsbanki-FBA cleaner who got dragged into the shark-eating, brennivin-downing session by mistake - he will have to wait until February next year for Thorablot 2: The dealer's revenge - he is Harry Potter the boy wizard. And Morgan Stanley has dashed the hopes of hundreds of kids hoping to see the blockbuster film by buying up loads of tickets for their key investors' children instead. Unfortunately for them, MTNers Klaus Svendsen and Richard Tynan, the oldest kids on the Morgan Stanley block, will have to queue up with the normal people. Potter-mania is the last thing on Deborah Loades' mind at the moment though. She is getting married on Saturday, and her philosopher's stone weighs about 35 carats. It can't promise immortality, but it will make each second that she shows it off feel like a lifetime to everyone else. Dresdner's Henry Nevstad is looking forward to a Christmas break in Norway. His three-month old daughter has been as good as gold apparently, and whatever she asks for she will get. Let's hope the end-of-year bonus can cover it, Henry. Philip Garrett, aka Dougal, has left Deutsche's ECP desk.
November 23, 2001