“In the short-run, the market is a voting machine; in the long-run, the market is a weighing machine” — Benjamin Graham.

1. Lagarde named as new IMF chief — the IMF’s appointed French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde as the fund’s first ever female Managing Director.
2. Congress may increase self-regulation of investment advisors — Congress is considering replacing the SEC with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority in overseeing almost 12,000 investment advisers who manage about $40T.
3. Greece passes austerity implementation law — the Greek parliament passed legislation implementing added austerity measures, the Associated Press reported, clearing the way for the debt-strapped nation to receive bailout funds seen as necessary to avoid a default.
4. B. of A. settlement — blue-chip bank agrees to settle mortgage-backed securities claims for $8.5 billion while making a $5.5 provision that will mean a second-quarter net loss.
5. Regulators to evaluate banks’ risk models — global banking regulators are preparing to assess how banks set risk weightings amid criticism that the firms’ calculations are inconsistent, a source said. The news comes a few days after regulators decided that the world’s largest banks will have to hold core Tier 1 capital of as much as 9.5% of their total risk-weighted assets.
6. Fed capped debit-card fees at $0.21 per transaction — this amount is almost double the original proposal of $0.12. The Fed will also give banks until Oct. 1 to comply with the new rules, instead of July 21.
7. ECB signals rate rise — the ECB signalled again it will begin raising interest rates next week from 1.25% after June CPI came in at 2.7%, well above the bank’s target of below 2% – ending speculation it might delay a hike in light of the Greek crisis and fears of contagion.
8. QE2 ends June 30 — the Fed ends its $600B bond-buying program with opinions mixed as to whether it was a success and whether another round of easing is likely to follow. The end of QE2 comes as growth has slowed, inflation has risen and unemployment remains above 9%, and leaves the Fed as the largest holder of Treasurys with around 17% of U.S. marketable debt.
9. China manufacturing growth slows further — China’s official Purchasing Managers’ Index slipped to 50.9 in June from 52.0 in May, just above the 50 mark that separates expansion from contraction, according to data released by the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing and National Bureau of Statistics.

The week ahead — Economic data from Econoday.com: