HONG KONG (Reuters) - Asian stock markets rose on Monday as investors' confidence in the battered financial sector seeped back and the dollar held on to recent gains, despite the oil price hitting a fresh all-time high close to $120 a barrel.

WASHINGTON -- The world's top financial officials, shaken by a credit crisis that has roiled markets around the world, are working on regulatory reforms that they hope will restore confidence in the markets.

PHILADELPHIA -- Hillary Rodham Clinton won't second guess the Federal Reserve's recent dramatic action to shore up confidence in financial markets. But she doesn't exactly support it, or oppose it, for that matter.

Prices at the wholesale level rise 1% in January as home values continue to fall in most areas of the U.S. Americans' confidence is withering amid a toxic combination of surging food and energy costs and falling home values.

WASHINGTON - When it comes to turning around the troubled economy, many people have confidence Ben Bernanke and his Federal Reserve colleagues can get the job done.

WASHINGTON -- When it comes to turning around the troubled economy, many people have confidence Ben Bernanke and his Federal Reserve colleagues can get the job done.

Britain's chancellor of the exchequer, Alistair Darling, aiming to restore consumers' confidence in the nation's banking system, will extend a government-backed guarantee for cash deposits of as much as $70,000 (35,000 pounds) in all accounts.