He actually meant it to be soothing, a reassuring statement of clear and unequivocal support for a reeling market. This statement, however, was received in the exact opposite way. The selling which had gone on seemingly unchecked for weeks was suddenly and materially amplified. The government was no longer going to be buying, but this was no big deal?
It wasn’t actually the government, though, and its official statement issued through the Finance Minister really was ambiguous – at best. This was December 1998 in Japan. After nearly a decade of the worst, most insipid form of economic disease(s) here was yet another one for officials to confront, yet another opportunity for them to screw it up.
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