With both majority Democrats and the US president's own Republican Party lining up against a mammoth 700-billion-dollar rescue plan for Wall Street, US President George Bush was to speak to the nation Wednesday evening (0100 GMT Thursday) to drum up support.

The escalating US financial crisis, which has frozen credit around the world, is now impacting the US presidential campaign, with Republican nominee John McCain, 72, suspending his campaign and heading back to Washington Thursday in a bid to break the legislative logjam.

Democratic nominee Obama said that he did not want to "confuse" Congress with presidential politics and would return to the Senate from the campaign trail only at the request of his Democratic Party's legislative leaders.

In Brussels, European officials said that Europe's financial system remains "solid" and does not need a US-style plan to buy up "toxic assets." But the bloc's economic and monetary affairs commissioner, Joaquin Almunia, warned, "We expect growth in both the EU and the euro area to remain relatively weak next year."

HSH Nordbank, a troubled German public-owned bank, confirmed that the world financial crisis had wiped 500 million euros (700 million dollars) off the value of its assets.

The Bank of Japan conducted an auction Wednesday to supply 30 billion dollars to money markets, the first time it has injected dollars to ease disruptions in credit markets.

France intends to call an emergency summit of the world's leading economic powers before the end of the year to respond to the global financial crisis, French Europe Minister Jean-Pierre Jouyet said.

In the US, the financial crisis was having its first criminal fallout as the Federal Bureau of Investigation examined possible criminal activity at 26 companies including recent bailout recipients Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and American International Group Inc (AIG), according to media reports.

The Tokyo market ended mixed Wednesday with the key Nikkei 225 Stock Average modestly higher.

The decline on Wall Street slowed despite the uncertainty over the US bailout. US stocks were mixed, with gains in high technology and a fraction of a percentage decline in blue chips and general stocks.

Bush's speech at 9 pm comes after repeated calls from Congress and the public for a more complete explanation of why the White House is so anxious to push through the emergency plan by week's end.

The rescue plan equals about one-quarter of the 2.9 trillion- dollar US budget for 2008. The administration hopes the plan will pass ahead of a congressional recess set to begin Friday ahead of November 4 elections.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke have met stiff resistance and criticism as they laid out details of the bailout plan to Congress.

The plan calls for the US government to buy up toxic mortgage debts and securities in the belief it will free up the flow of credit, which the White House says is even affecting the ability of some businesses to meet payroll.

Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke warned Congress of "grave threats" facing the US economy and of the consequences of failing to act.

"The downside risks to the outlook ... remain a significant concern," Bernanke told the Joint Economic Committee of the US Congress.

New York Democratic Representative Carolyn Maloney and others proposed that the US government buy equity stakes in the firms instead of buying up toxic assets.

Maloney asked what was to keep the firms to be help from "sitting on the money ... or buying foreign assets?" Both have been the outcomes of similar bankruptcy situations in other countries - including Japan - where governments have ploughed money into the finance system only to find credit had not loosened up.

Paulson and Bernanke have indicated that they are prepared to pay more money than the deflated market value for the toxic mortgage assets in order to give the financial firms the lift they needed to free up credit.

The White House relented on a key congressional demand that financial company executives face limits on their compensation, particularly golden-parachute severance packages, if their firms sell toxic mortgage assets to the government. (dpa)