Obama 'hopeful' on euro debt crisis

(NEW YORK) - US President Barack Obama said Wednesday that he was "cautiously hopeful" that key European players were ready to do the "right thing" to resolve the eurozone debt crisis.

Obama told supporters at a fundraising event in New York that he was spending "an awful lot" of time making trans-Atlantic calls to European leaders because of the possible knock on effect of the crisis on the US economy.

"We've still a lot of headwinds ahead of us, Europe is probably the biggest one," Obama said.

"When you look at what's happening in Europe, both to the banks and countries like Italy who need to refinance their debt, that can have a profound impact on what happens here."

"But I'm cautiously hopeful that they have recognized that they need to do the right thing. We're providing as much assistance as we can to make sure that the situation stabilizes because it can have an impact all around the world."

On Monday, Obama met leading European officials in a summit at the White House and told them that the continent's leaders must take forceful and immediate action to tackle the crisis.

His comments came on a day on which global stocks soared after the world's top central banks took action to boost liquidity for the financial system.