Financial stocks were mostly stronger Monday as traders reacted positively to word that the U.S. government might not be finished with its efforts to steer the economy back to health.

The KBW Bank index was down slightly, but the Amex Securities Broker/Dealer index was up 1.4%. The NYSE Financial Sector index was rising 3.5%.

Helping the group were comments from

Federal Reserve

Chairman

Ben Bernanke

, who suggested that a new

economic stimulus

package would be worth considering. Another boost came from President Bush, who wants to join with other world leaders to discuss additional ways to support the financial markets.

As for stocks,

ING

(ING) - Get Report

jumped 23% on word that the Dutch government plans to purchase a $13.4 billion stake in the financial-services company.

Elsewhere,

Merrill Lynch

( MER) CEO John Thain said thousands of jobs at the brokerage firm could be lost after the company is acquired by

Bank of America

(BAC) - Get Report

. Shares of both companies gained more than 3%.

Turning to big banks,

Citigroup

(C) - Get Report

eased 0.2%, while

JPMorgan Chase

(JPM) - Get Report

was up 1.4%.

Wells Fargo

(WFC) - Get Report

slipped 1.2%, and

UBS

(UBS) - Get Report

advanced 1.6%.

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This article was written by a staff member of TheStreet.com.