The suits who run FTSE International must love Baltimore. Having taken Baltimore into the FTSE-100 last March and ejected it last June after the dot.com market went pear-shaped, the FTSE compilers are now faced with the likelihood that they will have to bring Baltimore back into the 100 share index next week, after the shares roared ahead this week on takeover speculation.

Fran Rooney emerged late on Tuesday to dismiss the very idea of a takeover by Microsoft. But, by then, the shares had surged 9 per cent and continued to push ahead on Wednesday.

At Tuesday's close, Baltimore was worth £3.1 billion sterling - not far off the £3.25 billion that analysts believe would guarantee re-inclusion in the FTSE index.