The G7 finance ministers and central bank governors were uncharacteristically silent on the stock-market crash in New York — the worst ever in terms of single-day point losses. Instead, their statement, issued last weekend, emphasized that the world economy is improving and that U.S. growth remains "very strong" with inflation well under control.

On exchange rates, the communique made no specific reference to the yen, departing from the previous two G7 statements of last September and this January, which expressed shared concern about the Japanese currency going too high. It said merely that exchange rates among major currencies should reflect "economic fundamentals" such as growth and inflation rates. The omission of the "yen problem" mirrors a G7 judgment that it is improper to single out a particular currency, because the dollar, the euro and other currencies also have their own problems.

The crash in the New York market has spooked equity and exchange markets around the globe. In Tokyo on Monday, the Nikkei stock average nose-dived, posting its fifth-largest one-day point loss, while the dollar dipped against the yen. Major bourses, here and elsewhere, thus reacted sharply, plunging and then rebounding in the first two days of this week.