French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said Thursday she is "dumbfounded" at the prospect of the Deutsche Bundesbank President Axel Weber not being a candidate to be the next head of the European Central Bank.

"What a surprise," Lagarde said as she left an event at the finance ministry.

Lagarde also said she is watching carefully at the prospect of a tie-up between NYSE Euronext (NYX), whose businesses include the Paris stock exchange, and Deutsche Boerse AG (DB1.XE) of Germany.

Lagarde said an "axis" linking New York and Europe could be "very attractive."

She also said she wants markets to continue to work safely and in stability, and to keep and develop operations in France.

-By Adam Mitchell, Dow Jones Newswires, +33 1 40171756; adam.mitchell@dowjones.com
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