Financial markets rise as investors track $700 billion rescue plan

Financial markets appeared somewhat more upbeat Tuesday, with stocks holding their ground after a huge sell-off as top economic officials updated Congress about efforts to hammer out a $700 billion financial rescue for troubled credit markets.

Oil and gold prices retreated after shooting higher Monday as investors went in search of hard assets, and demand eased for three-month Treasury bills, considered the safest short-term financial asset.

After days of intense gyrations in financial markets, investors are anxious over whether the plan to absorb billions of dollars in banks’ bad mortgages and other risky assets will help steer the economy onto more solid footing or whether it will introduce another set of problems such as rising inflation.