The world was left open-mouthed when Barack Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize largely on the basis of his ambitions and longer-term vision rather than on his practical achievements in his first 263 days in office.

Something similar seems to be happening to Sergio Marchionne, the Fiat chief executive and manager that President Obama strongly backed to revive the fortunes of Chrysler. Mr Marchionne has yet to unveil his five-year recovery plan for Chrysler, but investors are already getting carried away by betting he will manage to pull off another spectacular industrial turnround.