Hidden among all the doom and gloom, there is a little hope left in the economy.

The New York-based Conference Board, a private research group, determined that consumer confidence was up in November. The group's Consumer Confidence Index stands at 44.9, up from a revised 38.8 in October. Last month, the indicator was at its lowest point since the research group started tracking the index in 1967.

Also making headlines is the Fed's plan to unfreeze consumer debt by pumping $800 billion into the economy. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson stated that the program is aimed at providing money for consumer debt, such as credit cards, auto loans and student loans.

The market responded with another volatile day on Tuesday by rallying late in the day to close slightly up. Bank of America (BAC), JPMorgan (JPM), Citigroup © and Morgan Stanley (MS) all led the way.

With this in mind, we thought we'd take a look at some of the stocks people have been searching for on TheStreet.com and see what Jim Cramer's had to say about them recently.

These stocks could be in the news for a number of reasons. Some require immediate attention; others may not. Regardless, it never hurts to hear what Cramer (or any of the other professional investors on the site) has to say about them. The key is to gather as much information as you can in order to make the most informed investment decisions you can.

In a recent post to his RealMoney blog, Cramer had this to say about Procter & Gamble (PG) and other soft-goods plays:

"Here we go with the slaughter of the soft-goods consumer stocks, the killing of the smoke-eat-drink-wash stocks that we get over and over again as people imagine a quick recovery and don't recognize that a recession, short or long, gives us better compares. We have to hear about the strong dollar and how it hurt them, and then we take them down because they have been so-called leaders and are so-called immune, even though you can hardly call them leaders and I don't know a soul who thinks they are immune.

"The simple fact is that defensive is not going to go out of style, although the stocks ebb and flow with the futures and with those knuckleheaded enough to believe that all is going to accelerate with the economy.

"A combination, though, of low petroleum prices, lower raw costs and a consumer who has to buy necessities will always buoy the Procters and the Johnson & Johnsons (JNJ) and the Krafts (KFT) and the General Mills (GIS) right back.

"These stocks react poorly either to rotations like we are having into infrastructure or to inflation, which everyone has decided we are going to have because of all of the money that is printed.

"I like to buy these stocks on any weakness because we have rampant deflation that still can't be cured by what we have printed, and because in the end, year-over-year compares here will be better than for just about any other industry group.

"So go join the selling, as long as you buy them back when you are finished."

For more of what Cramer's had to say about Tuesday's top-searched stocks, including Nike (NKE), Eastman Kodak (EK), SunTrust Banks (STI) and Diageo DEO, check out the Cramer's Take portfolio at Stockpickr.com.

(Editor's note: At the time of publication and/or original publication of his posts and shows, Cramer owned Johnson & Johnson, Kraft, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley and Procter & Gamble for his Action Alerts PLUS charitable trust.)

Posted on Nov. 25, 2008