Japan Urges G-7 Coordination on Markets

“Take all necessary measures to support financial stability and growth.” In other word, do whatever it takes to kick the can down the road. That is, until market forces remove or destroy the can. After that, central planners will be pushing on a string to execute those 'whatever it takes' policies.

Headline: Japan Urges G-7 Coordination on Markets

Japan called on Group of Seven nations to work closely to counter market turmoil and Asian officials sought to calm investors as stocks slumped on concern the U.S. recovery is faltering.

The G-7 needs “very close cooperation in coming weeks,” Japanese Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda said in Tokyo, where the Topix index fell to a two-year low. Hong Kong financial official K.C. Chan urged investors to “stay calm” and not be “spooked by the market,” as the Hang Seng Index slumped 3.1 percent. In Beijing, Vice President Xi Jinping said his nation will avoid an economic hard landing.

Plunging equity markets are crushing consumer and business confidence, worsening the outlook for a global economy already hampered by the debt burdens of developed nations. Speculation that European banks may have insufficient capital and signs of weakness in the U.S. economy are helping to drive a stock rout that returned to Asia today.

“Business confidence is tailing off and global growth slowing, and Europe’s debt situation appears to be getting worse and worse without any coordinated policy response,” said Matt Riordan, who helps manage almost $6.6 billion in Sydney at Paradice Investment Management Pty. “The worst case is that you go back to a 2008-type financial crisis.”

Source: finance.yahoo.com