Policy makers signal comfort on stocks as bankers urge caution

WASHINGTON: The guardians of the world economy brushed aside soaring stock and asset prices as a threat to economic and financial stability even as some bankers warned that investors risk repeating their pre-crisis complacency.

The rare turnabout in which central bankers and finance ministers expressed comfort with the level of markets – even as private-sector executives urged caution – took place in and around a generally upbeat annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington.