President George W Bush has promised Americans their government is working "aggressively" to steady the economy. Speaking from the White House, Mr Bush said recent market turmoil was being driven by "uncertainty and fear".
He spoke as world markets tumbled amid rising fears of a global recession, despite interest rate cuts and huge cash injections by central banks.
Group of Seven finance ministers are meeting in Washington to discuss how to tackle the global economic crisis.
The G7 most industrialised nations - the US, Japan, Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Canada - pledged a co-ordinated response and are expected to issue a joint statement on Friday evening.In his White House Rose Garden statement, Mr Bush defended the $700bn (£410bn) Wall Street rescue plan he signed into law a week ago.
He said it was big enough and stressed it would take time have its full impact.
Offering no new remedies, he said: "We are a prosperous nation with immense resources and a wide range of tools at our disposal. We are using these tools aggressively."
He pledged: "Fellow citizens: We can solve this crisis, and we will."
The US president said America was working with other world governments to stabilise the panic-stricken markets.
"We're in this together and we'll come through this together," said Mr Bush.
The BBC's Kevin Connolly in Washington says that of several recent attempts by Mr Bush to inspire a rally in the markets, this was one of the longer and more detailed.
The White House later dismissed suggestions US markets could be suspended so international financial rules could be rewritten. The idea had been raised by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
"There are absolutely no plans or discussions to interfere with the functioning of markets in the United States," White House spokesman Tony Fratto said.
'Self-feeding frenzy'
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) will also hold talks in the US capital over the weekend.
And the French presidency has announced that leaders of the eurozone countries are to meet in Paris on Sunday.
Wall Street has lost more than a fifth of its value in the past 10 trading days and is heading for one of its biggest weekly falls since the Dow Jones index was created 112 years ago.
European shares plunged to end Friday between seven and nine percent lower. The UK's FTSE 100 closed 8.9% down, while the French Cac lost 7.7% and German Dax dropped 8.4%.
Shares in Asia also closed down sharply, with Japan's main Nikkei index suffering its biggest one-day drop since the 1987 stock market crash and Hong Kong's Hang Seng slumping to a three-year low.
There have been suspensions in trading in at least seven countries: Russia, Austria, Iceland, Romania, Ukraine, Brazil and Indonesia.
Volatile market conditions continued despite moves on Wednesday by six of the main central banks to cut interest rates by half a percentage point.
"It's a self-feeding frenzy - you go to sleep and hear Japan is down, you wake up and hear Europe is down, then you come in to work and markets here are down," said one New York banker.
The recent market mayhem has overshadowed the 4 November elections to choose a successor to Mr Bush, who steps down as president in January.
In other major developments:
The British pound tumbled to a five-year low against the US dollar
Oil prices plummeted to a one-year low, with US light crude dropping to $78.61
The rate at which banks lend dollars to each other - known as Libor - has risen to 4.8%
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) will also hold talks in the US capital over the weekend.
And the French presidency has announced that leaders of the eurozone countries are to meet in Paris on Sunday.
Wall Street has lost more than a fifth of its value in the past 10 trading days and is heading for one of its biggest weekly falls since the Dow Jones index was created 112 years ago.
European shares plunged to end Friday between seven and nine percent lower. The UK's FTSE 100 closed 8.9% down, while the French Cac lost 7.7% and German Dax dropped 8.4%.
Shares in Asia also closed down sharply, with Japan's main Nikkei index suffering its biggest one-day drop since the 1987 stock market crash and Hong Kong's Hang Seng slumping to a three-year low.
There have been suspensions in trading in at least seven countries: Russia, Austria, Iceland, Romania, Ukraine, Brazil and Indonesia.
Volatile market conditions continued despite moves on Wednesday by six of the main central banks to cut interest rates by half a percentage point.
"It's a self-feeding frenzy - you go to sleep and hear Japan is down, you wake up and hear Europe is down, then you come in to work and markets here are down," said one New York banker.
The recent market mayhem has overshadowed the 4 November elections to choose a successor to Mr Bush, who steps down as president in January.
In other major developments:
The British pound tumbled to a five-year low against the US dollar
Oil prices plummeted to a one-year low, with US light crude dropping to $78.61
The rate at which banks lend dollars to each other - known as Libor - has risen to 4.8%
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