Stocks Hold Gains Despite Consumer Data

Updated from 11:20 a.m. EST

Stocks in New York held to gains early Tuesday afternoon despite the release of the worst consumer confidence figures on record.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 125 points at 8609, and the S&P 500 was gaining 14 points at 883. The Nasdaq was up 28 points at 1538.

Adding juice to the market, the Treasury Department said it will provide $5 billion to GMAC Financial Services, GM's auto and mortgage financing arm, to keep it from filing for Chapter 11. In return for the capital infusion, the government will receive preferred shares that pay an 8% dividend and warrants to purchase additional shares. The Treasury will also extend up to $1 billion to GM, enabling the company to purchase additional equity as GMAC strives to raise more capital.

The Federal Reserve last week approved GMAC's application to become a bank holding company, a designation that would give the company access to government programs, including Troubled Assets Relief Program, or TARP.

Wall Street and Main Street are no doubt happy to say goodbye to a traumatic 2008, but consumers aren't signaling a change of heart. The Conference board said consumer confidence, based on a sample of 5,000 households, fell to a new all-time low in December, falling to 38 from 44.7 in November. "The further erosion of the Consumer Confidence Index reflects the rapid and steep deterioration of economic conditions that occurred in the fourth quarter of 2008," says Lynn Franco, director of the Conference Board Consumer Research Center.