Washington ? Global finance officials pledged on Saturday to take bolder moves to confront a European debt crisis that threatens to plunge the world into another deep recession. But sharp disagreements about exactly what to do can’t offer much reassurance to markets rocked by uncertainly in recent weeks.

The United States and other countries outside of Europe fear the economic fallout at home from the European crisis. They are raising the pressure on Europeans to settle their differences and agree on a plan to rescue heavily indebted European countries.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner bluntly told officials at a meeting of the International Monetary Fund that time was running short to stave off potential domino-style defaults in Europe. European governments, he said, need to join with the European Central Bank to provide stronger support to calm market fears.

He said the ECB, the central bank for the 17 nations that use the euro as a common currency, should make sure that financially troubled countries trying to reform their economies can get loans at affordable rates and that European banks have access to the capital they need to operate.

Fears that Greece is in danger of defaulting on its debt have rattled U.S. and global markets. Such a development would add to the stress for major banks in France and Germany that have a large exposure to Athens’ debt. It also would further strain on other heavily indebted Portugal and Ireland, and even bigger economies such as Italy and Spain.

For the week, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 6.4 percent, its worst performance since Oct. 10, 2008, when it dropped 18 percent at the height of the U.S. financial crisis.

“The threat of cascading default, bank runs and catastrophic risk must be taken off the table,” Geithner told the IMF’s policy committee. “Decisions as to how to conclusively address the region’s problems cannot wait until the crisis gets even more severe.”