Obama: U.S. must move quickly on market rescue

GEORGETOWN, Ohio (Reuters) - U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama urged the Treasury Department to move quickly to carry out a rescue plan for financial markets, after U.S. stocks suffered a nearly 700-point decline on Thursday.

"As millions of Americans lost more of their investments and hard-earned retirement savings today, it is critical that the Treasury Department move as quickly as possible to implement the rescue plan that passed Congress so we can ease this credit crisis," he said in a statement.

While the market upheaval was a "very serious challenge," he said, "Now is not the time for fear or panic."

(Reporting by Caren Bohan; Editing by Patricia Zengerle)