"We are a prosperous nation with immense resources and a wide range of tools at our disposal ... We can solve this crisis and we will," Bush said in brief remarks from the White House Rose Garden.

Bush spoke as leaders of the world's leading economies gathered in Washington amid frozen credit markets, panic selling in stock markets and a looming global recession.

The president noted that major Western economies were working together in an attempt to stabilize markets and end the spreading panic.

"Through these efforts, the world is sending an unmistakable signal. We're in this together and we'll come through this together," Bush said.

Finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of Seven _ the United States, Japan, Britain, Germany, France Italy and Canada _ were here for a weekend meeting. Bush plans to meet with the leaders on Saturday.

Bush said he understood how Americans could be concerned about their economic future, "that anxiety can feed anxiety and that can make it hard to see all that's being done to solve the problem."