US STOCKS-Dow inches up as GMAC, oil help; S&P, Nasdaq dip

                                
  * GM, energy stocks support Dow as crude oil rises
  * Retailers dip, but Amazon, Jones Apparel bright spots
  * Dow up 0.1 pct, S&P down 0.1 pct, Nasdaq off 0.4 pct
  * For up to the minute market news, please click on
[STXNEWS/US]
 (Updates to midday, changes byline)
                                
 By Deepa Seetharaman
                                
 NEW YORK, Dec 26 (Reuters) - The Dow clung to a small gain
at midday on Friday, supported by an advance in General Motors
shares after its GMAC affiliate qualified to be a bank holding
company, while higher oil prices lifted energy stocks.
                                
 But the S&P 500 and Nasdaq dipped in thin trade as a drop
in semiconductors' stocks offset gains among retailers like
Amazon.com <AMZN.O>. An index of semiconductor stocks <.SOXX>
lost almost 1 percent.
                                
 The Federal Reserve paved the way for GMAC LLC, the
financing arm of automaker General Motors Corp <GM.N>, to
become a bank holding company on Wednesday, giving it access
to government lending programs to help stave off bankruptcy.
For details, see [ID:nN24278654]
                                
 The Fed's move to make GMAC eligible for aid under the
government's $700 billion bailout fund removed some
uncertainty and eased investors' concerns.
                                
 "It helps in that we don't have deal with another big
uncertainty right now, but I don't think we can all make
comments that it's a positive for the market," said Tim
Smalls, head of U.S. stock trading at Execution LLC in
Greenwich, Connecticut.
                                
 "Do you think government intervention is ever a big
positive?" Smalls asked.
                                
 Shares of GM, a Dow component, rose 13.5 percent to $3.69.
Rival Ford Motor Co <F.N> stock gained 9 percent to $2.30.
                                
 The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> added 10.43 points
or 0.12 percent, to 8,478.67. But the Standard & Poor's 500
Index <.SPX> dipped 1.10 points, or 0.13 percent, to 867.05.
And the Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> slipped 5.42 points, or
0.35 percent, to 1,519.52.
                                
 U.S. oil futures <CLc1> rose above $37 a barrel on Friday
after the United Arab Emirates joined leading exporter Saudi
Arabia in deepening supply curbs in line with OPEC's
announcement last week of its biggest-ever output cut.
                                
 Exxon Mobil <XOM.N> topped the Dow as U.S. crude oil
futures climbed as much as 5.4 percent and hit a session high
at $37.27 a barrel.Exxon's stock advanced 1.5 percent to
$76.95, while Chevron Corp <CVX.N> shares gained 0.5 percent
to $69.98. The S&P index of energy stocks <.GSPE> rose 1
percent.
                                
 On the Nasdaq, shares of computer graphics company Nvidia
Corp <NVDA.O> fell 4.3 percent to $7.39.
                                
 Google Inc <GOOG.O> slipped 1.2 percent to $299.20, making
it the top drag on the Nasdaq.
                                
 Amazon's stock rose 0.7 percent to $51.78 and helped limit
the Nasdaq's decline after the Internet retailer said it had
its best holiday shopping season ever. [ID:nWNAB5898]
                                
 Jones Apparel <JNY.N> was another bright spot in the
retail sector. Its stock surged 36.3 percent to $5.30 on the
NYSE after the company said it had reduced its $1.25 billion
in lines of credit into a single line of $600 million.
[ID:nN26257923]
                                
 Still the S&P 500 index of retailers <.RLX> slipped 0.3
percent after a report showed U.S. sales fell as much as 4
percent during one of the worst holiday shopping climates in
modern times.
                                
 The report from SpendingPulse, a division of MasterCard
Advisors, said sales were down 2 percent to 4 percent from a
year ago for the full holiday season and declined 8 percent in
December alone. [ID:nN14444305]
 (Additional reporting by Charles Mikolajczak; Editing by Jan
Paschal)