Focus today. The election of the new Italian president will attract attention again as lawmakers failed to reach an agreement in the first and second round of voting yesterday. At the third ballot a two-third majority is still necessary but from the fourth round onward an absolute majority will be sufficient. While this is easier to reach, it also needs to reflect a way forward for a government to be formed. The G20 finance ministers and central bank governors meet again at their two-day meeting in Washington. Focus for the nations is to affirm a commitment to avoid weakening their currencies to gain a trade advantage. The statement after the meeting is expected to confirm that monetary policies remain oriented towards domestic objectives. This implies that the weakening of the yen is seen as a by-product of Bank of Japan’s monetary policy, which is set to comply with the domestic mandate and hence it will give a green light for the policy. In the US Fed’s Stein (voter, dove) delivers the closing keynote at the Richmond Fed’s 2013 Credit Markets Symposium.
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Danske Bank