White
House urges patience
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Bush administration
is pledging to do whatever it takes to battle a severe financial crisis that is
threatening to push the country into a steep recession.
But even with the aggressive steps the government has
already taken, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson says it will take time before
things get turned around.
“Clearly, we’re going to have a number of difficult months
ahead of us in terms of the real economy,” Paulson said Tuesday in an interview
on “The Charlie Rose Show.”
Asian markets veered sharply lower Wednesday, with Tokyo’s
Nikkei index tumbling 6.79 percent.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down
6.2 percent, while South Korea’s main index shed 5.1 percent.
European markets also opened lower.
A week after Paulson announced the administration would
spend $250 billion to buy stakes in U.S. banks, the Federal Reserve stepped up
Tuesday with a new program to help money market mutual funds that have been
squeezed by worried investors demanding to cash out their holdings.