By: Mike Allen

A White House official said the United States is not considering the idea floated by the Italian government of closing world financial markets in an attempt to restore stability.

Bloomberg News quoted Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi as saying after a cabinet meeting in Naples: "The idea of suspending the markets for the time it takes to rewrite the rules is being discussed."

Bloomberg said he was talking about world markets, quoting him as saying that a solution to the financial crisis “can’t just be for one country, or even just for Europe, but global.”

A senior White House official tells Politico: "There are absolutely no plans or discussions to interfere with the functioning of markets in the United States."

Bush meets Saturday at the White House with international finance ministers who are in Washington for the annual meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

Market losses continued Friday in New York and around the world. The New York stock exchange on Thursday suffered its largest loss since 1987.

Bush said in the Rose Garden on Friday morning: "We can solve this crisis and we will."

All three broadcast networks interrupted programming to carry his remarks.

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