US Bailout Deal Is Near as Bush to Meet Lawmakers

Congress looked close to reaching a deal to approve a $700 billion plan to bail out the U.S. financial system and President George W. Bush called an emergency meeting for Thursday to hammer out details.

The move toward a deal will likely calm U.S. markets, which were in turmoil on Wednesday as negotiations dragged on. Investors stampeded into cash and safe-haven assets, briefly sending short-term interest rates below zero. Experts said banks were hoarding cash, fearful that if they loaned money to other banks they might not get repaid.

But with a deal near, U.S. stock futures were up about 0.5 percent after earlier being negative, suggesting a firmer open for Wall Street on Thursday. Asian stock markets also retraced earlier losses.  (Watch Bush's address to the nation on the left)

Bush warned of a looming economic disaster if Congress failed to act swiftly to fund the $700 billion bailout that would be larger than the total cost of the Iraq war.

Bush offered few details about the makeup of the emerging deal for a bailout.

U.S. congressional Democrats and Republicans plan to meet on Thursday to draft a final bipartisan plan, a Democratic source told Reuters on Wednesday night.

"Not too many unresolved issues remain," the source said.