New money had chased shares along Exchange Alley in March, just as Parliament worked out the details of the deal. But it was when the deal went live that Exchange Alley began to live the dream. Shares traded at £328 at the end of April. On May 2, jobbers at Jonathan’s could get £339 for the stock. It hit £352 by the end of the next week, £375 on the nineteenth, and £400 on the following day—and at that, the market was just warming up.
