Finance chiefs from the biggest economies rang the alarm over global growth and said they're prepared to do something about it. Too bad they've never been less relevant.
Gone are the days when investors used to quake over ministers moving a comma or adding a period in key sentences. If their weekend statement was intended to shore up confidence or call out risks, they might as well not have bothered. Markets moved Monday morning on Trump's suspension of tariffs against Mexico, not words from the meeting of Group of 20 finance brass in Fukuoka.
That says it all. Not because markets are always right, but because the very things undermining confidence in the world economy are precisely the things the ministers aren't equipped or empowered to handle.