Texas governor Rick Perry has amazed everyone by suddenly announcing his candidature for the US presidential elections. Just two days ago he had taken the air out of the GOP debate of Republican Presidential hopefuls. Now he is going to be taken really very seriously for his ability to generate finances and his political background.

European stock markets rallied on Friday as a ban on the short-selling of financial shares tempted investors back into the battered banking sector, although concerns over the health of French banks kept the mood edgy and trading remained volatile.

Four European Union countries, France, Belgium, Italy and Spain, decided to ban the short-selling of bank and insurance stocks. As was the intention behind the orders by the regulators of the respective countries, it has given them a short-term lift Friday. However, analysts claim that it is unlikely to have any lasting effect unless the fundamentals behind them change.

The announcement made this Thursday puts a 15-day ban on the short-selling of certain financial stocks and derivatives linked to them to control a steep fall in banking shares this week.

A London-based fund manager opined, “Something needed to be done, the rumors were silly and the market was full of emotion and fear. So this provides a break in that, so not bad. I don't think it works long term but should buy some time.”

Markets rallied after the ban. The FTSEuro first 300 index of top European shares rose 2%, the MSCI world equity index rose 0.5%, and STOXX Europe 600 Banks index and Societe Generale also rose 3%.

However, Friday’s gains are also not making the investors very happy as the general impression in that this gain is only temporary.Read More