On the heels of its worst week ever, the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 962 points Monday to post the market's single-biggest one-day gain, as the federal government began to help unfreeze the credit markets and let banks gain access to capital.

After devastating losses over the last eight sessions, the Dow opened 400-points higher Monday and only got better. The Dow ended 11-percent higher to close at 9,387.

The S&P 500 also rose by 104 points, and the Nasdaq ended the day up 194 points.

Many investment bankers said they were not surprised by the turn of events.

"I wasn't surprised," said one. "It had to bounce back sometime, right?"

"It's great, isn't it?" said another. "It's some good news for a change, a bounce back. It's too early to tell if it'll be long-lasting. At least for today, it's some good news."

Appearing at the Rose Garden Monday, President George W. Bush reassured Americans but acknowledged that people across the world were understandably concerned about the economic crisis.

"These are tough times for our economies, yet we can be confident that we can work our way through these challenges,” said Bush. “And America will continue to work closely with the other nations to coordinate our response to this global financial crisis."

Meanwhile, the Bush administration said it is moving quickly to implement the $700 billion rescue package.

A team of managers has been set up to administer different aspects and private law firms have been consulted to help structure the purchase of bank stock.

Neel Kashkari, the treasury official in charge of the plan, said officials are also weighing bids by dozens of private companies looking to work for the government on the plan.

Kashkari said earlier Monday that guidelines are still being developed for buying banks' bad investments, but he expressed confidence the package will be used to both stabilize and spur the economy.

"Treasury is implementing its new authorities with one simple goal: to restore capital flows to the consumers and businesses that form the core of our economy," said Kashkari.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pushed Monday for a second package to help struggling Americans.

Pelosi said the plan would extend jobless benefits, increase food stamp funding and finance government construction projects.

However, she refused to give it an exact price tag, saying it might have to be larger than the $61 billion bill that died in the Senate.

"I'm instructing the appropriate chairman to have hearings about such a recovery package," said Pelosi. "And we do so with great optimism and great confidence that we'll come out with the right formula that again give confidence to the consumer, rebuild America and give relief to the middle class."

House Republican leader John Boehner already expressed opposition to the plan. GOP leaders have been calling for corporate and investment tax cuts and more energy exploration.

Meanwhile, European governments are stepping up their efforts to ease the credit crunch.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has announced a $491 billion plan to help banks stay afloat.

The Bank of England, European Central Bank and the Swiss National Bank have all announced a partnership to provide unlimited short-term funds to help revive lending.

Earlier today, Britain said it will inject some $63 billion to boost the balance sheets of three of its largest banks.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said his government is taking unprecedented steps in order to protect small business owners and taxpayers.