"I think we had enough negatives last week that if the government steps in we could have a pretty nice run," said Denis Amato, chief investment officer at Ancora Advisors. "Is it off to the races? No, I don't think so. We have a lot of stuff to work through."

It was also too soon to say for sure whether lending was finally loosening up. The sell-off on Wall Street last week was driven by fear that mistrustful banks were choking off the everyday loans that businesses use to buy supplies and pay their workers.

Monday was the Columbus Day holiday, and the U.S. bond markets and banks were closed, making it difficult to gauge the reaction of the credit markets to the measures taken by world governments.

The Bank of England said it would use up to $63 billion to help the three largest British banks strengthen their balance sheets. The Bank of England, the European Central Bank and the Swiss National Bank also jointly announced plans to work together to provide as much short-term money as necessary to help revive lending.

The heads of the five biggest U.S. banks — Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America — were meeting at the Treasury Department with officials from Treasury and the Federal Reserve. The discussions are aimed at finalizing details on the rescue package Congress passed Oct. 3.

That package started with the idea that the government would buy the bad mortgage-related debt off the books of banks. It now includes provisions for the government to buy ownership stakes in banks, among other steps.

It is coming together against the backdrop of a presidential election that has focused squarely on the economy. Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain are to meet for a final debate Wednesday night on Long Island, with the state of the nation's finances sure to be at the top of the list.

Consolidated volume on the New York Stock Exchange hit 7.1 billion shares, down from 11.2 billion during Friday's session but still very heavy.

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Contributing: Joe Bel Bruno, Stevenson Jacobs and Martin Crutsinger