NEW YORK » Wall Street showed some signs of stability yesterday as investors, heartened by government plans to aid consumer lending companies, selectively bought more stocks following a huge two-day rally. Gains in blue chips gave the Dow Jones industrials and the Standard & Poor's 500 index their first triple-session advance in more than two months.

Tech stocks lagged the market, sending the Nasdaq composite index lower, as investors bet that businesses will continue slashing capital spending in a recession.

Some selling was widely expected after a two-day rally that sent the Dow up nearly 900 points, but the fact that the market performed so well was an indication that investors are regaining some of the confidence that has been decimated by months of bad economic news.

Investors were encouraged yesterday after the U.S. Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve said they planned to provide $800 billion to help unfreeze the market for consumer debt and to make mortgage loans cheaper and more available. The program is aimed at reviving moribund credit markets.

The Dow rose 36.08, or 0.43 percent, to 8,479.47. The index was up 164 points earlier in the session but also fell 161. The Dow last put a three-day advance together on Aug. 26-28.

Broader indexes were mixed. The S&P 500 rose 5.58, or 0.66 percent, to 857.39, giving the index its first three-day rise since Sept. 10-12. The Nasdaq composite index, hurt by signs that companies are cutting back on technology spending, fell 7.29, or 0.50 percent, to 1,464.73.

Still, advancing issues were ahead of decliners on the Nasdaq Stock Market by 5 to 4. On the New York Stock Exchange, advancers were ahead by more than 2 to 1 on consolidated volume of 6.72 billion shares, compared with 7.65 billion on Monday.

The U.S. Commerce Department said third-quarter gross domestic product declined at a 0.5 percent annual rate, outpacing the 0.3 percent first estimated a month ago. Still, Wall Street had expected the number would worsen, so the report didn't catch the market by surprise.

The Conference Board said its Consumer Confidence Index unexpectedly rose to 44.9 in November, up from a revised 38.8 in the previous month. Last month's reading was the lowest since the research group started tracking the index in 1967.

Treasury bonds fell during the session after most investors focused on the stock market. The yield on the three-month T-bill, considered one of the safest investments, rose to 0.09 percent from 0.01 percent late Monday.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, fell to 3.10 percent in late trade from 3.33 percent on Monday.

The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices fell. Light, sweet crude fell $3.73 to settle at $50.77 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.