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Money Daily Brief: G20 is world's new economic order

Investors worry that G20 limits on bankers' pay would hurt financial stocks.

Updated 3:12 p.m. EDT (19:12 UTC)

•G20 is world's new economic order: The G20 will replace the G8 as the world's . Together, the group  - which includes nations from Argentina to Turkey to India - represents roughly . Formerly a ministerial-level group, the world financial crises reinforced the need for wider economic consultation, perhaps including "peer review" of other G20 economies.

•Banker pay in cross hairs: G20 leaders meeting in Pittsburgh Friday have on limiting compensation for banking executives world wide. A lack of a hard cap on pay is a significant bone of contention for the U.S., where banking chiefs averaged . Fears that the G20 will impose limits on bankers’ compensation rattled stocks on a day when by investor concerns about the pace of economic recovery.

•Yen surges, sterling slumps: Japan's currency rose against the euro on speculation that , taking advantage of a tax-waiving rule change. The dollar was also up against the euro although sterling was set for another heavy loss following a report that Bank of England Governor Mervyn King said the the United Kingdom's economy rebalance.

•US consumers upbeat: A sentiment index rose to 73.5 in September, its , but most consumers judged their own finances had deteriorated. Separately, new orders in August, mostly on a big drop in the volatile category of . More worrying was the 0.4 percent drop in core nondefense capital goods orders, the second monthly decline in a key indicator of business investment.

•Still spending: The world’s biggest recession for nearly a century has , a respected British think tank said. The warned about the ecological impact of continued debt-fueled consumption, particularly by western consumers.

•In my backyard: As share markets elsewhere struggled, Australian stocks on the back of strong gains in the financial sector helped by the country’s fourth-largest lender swallowing up the Aussie and Kiwi operations of Dutch-based bank ING. Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd in a joint life insurance and wealth-management venture for $1.8 billion (Australian; US$1.5 billion). As further proof of Australia’s robust growth, one forecaster said its dollar is set to next year, the first time in 30 years.

– Ben Quinn, a Monitor correspondent based in London, reported from Sydney, Australia. For a look at the Group of 20's evolving role, see G20 as world's top economic body? Doubts abound.