In a rare glimpse of the man behind the cautious rhetoric, Bank of Japan Gov. Toshihiko Fukui made a passionate plea Thursday for coordinated economic policy in an increasingly fractious world.
"In the wake of the U.S.-Iraqi conflict, I think we will see a complex world emerge ridden by intensified clashing of values, even as globalization continues," he told a regularly scheduled news conference. "No matter how divided we may become through political, social and ideological differences, we must increase efforts to coordinate policy and show that at least economically we are united in a single world economy."
U.S. stocks fell after Saddam Hussein's Baghdad crumbled under the U.S.-led onslaught, as investors diverted their attention to weakening economic indicators and corporate cost-cutting.