Obama and Brown urge global action on economy

By Caren Bohan and Sumeet Desai

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Tuesday urged coordinated action to fight the worldwide economic crisis, joining Prime Minister Gordon Brown's call for a global response.

A month before Obama travels to London for a summit of the Group of 20 major developed and emerging economies, the United States and Britain are grappling with turmoil in their banking sectors caused by toxic mortgage securities.

The bad debt has crippled lending and added to fears in global stock markets about a worsening recession.

Obama told reporters during his Oval Office meeting with Brown that he was "absolutely confident" his administration's plans to shore up the banking system would yield results.

In comments that gave a temporary lift to battered stock prices, Obama also said there were "potentially good deals" to be found at the market's current depressed levels.

"What I'm looking at is not the day-to-day gyrations of the stock market but the long-term ability for the United States and the entire world economy to regain its footing," he said.

"One of the things that Prime Minister Brown and I talked about is how can we coordinate so that all the G20 countries, all the major countries around the world, in a coordinated fashion, are stimulating their economies?"

Obama and Brown both called for common principles to bolster the financial regulatory structure.