Washington - President George W Bush sought to assure the world that the US government was doing all it could to keep the world's largest economy afloat as global stocks were in free-fall on Friday.

Bush said a "startling" drop in US stocks in the last few days was being "driven by uncertainty and fear," and insisted the US already had all the tools necessary to resolve the financial crisis.

"This has been a deeply unsettling period for the American people," Bush acknowledged. "We will continue to act to resolve this crisis and restore stability in our markets."

US stocks have plummeted more than 10 per cent in the last three days and continued falling on a wild trading day Friday. European stocks also tumbled, leading some countries to temporarily halt trading.

Bush said that international cooperation was key as finance ministers from the Group of Seven industrial nations prepared to meet in Washington Friday.

Bush will meet with the G7 ministers on Saturday, while Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson will also be hosting an emergency meeting of finance chiefs from the world's 20 leading economies.

"The world is sending an unmistakable signal: We're in this together, we will come through this together," Bush said in a statement outside the White House.

Bush announced no new moves to ease the credit crunch. Instead he cited the litany of government interventions and powers already in play after Congress last week passed a 700-billion-dollar rescue package that gives the Treasury broad authority to intervene in the banking system.

"We know what the problems are, we have the tools to fix them and we are working quickly to do so," Bush said. (dpa)