barack obama was a freshman senator, lehman brothers and aig were still in business, and facebook had fewer than 100 million users. the index has jumped 6% in the eight weeks since new year's day and nearly doubled since bottoming out in march 2009. with nearly 165 million americans invested in stocks, mostly through 401(k) retirement accounts, that's likely to boost consumer confidence. >> a more confident consumer is one more likely to spend, and they're willing to look to the future with a bit more optimism. >> i'm unimpressed with the stock market. if the wall street fat cats get richer, that doesn't affect me or my friends. >> reporter: rising stock prices may not mean much to consumers struggling with rising gas and food prices.