The US Congress was moving closer to an agreement on the 700 billion-dollar financial rescue plan, lawmakers said Thursday, a day after a sombre US President George W Bush laid out the spectre of a "long and painful recession."

Republican presidential nominee John McCain, a senator from Arizona, said in broadcast remarks he was confident there would be an agreement "before markets open Monday morning."

Representative Paul Kanjorski of Pennsylvania told CNBC broadcaster that the package was "basically done."

"The hard issues are resolved. They have to shake hands. They have to smile and they have to have the photo set," he said.

After Wall Street opened Thursday morning, stocks were gaining across all three indices after narrowing their decline on Wednesday, when high tech stocks even increased for the first time in three days.