Despite the political drama unfolding in the Crimea Peninsula between Russia and western powers, the S&P 500 rose to a new high, while the Dow made modest gains and the Nasdaq fell slightly. CNNMoney reports the Dow Jones Industrial Average nudged up 61.71 points, +0.38 percent, to end the day at 16,421.89. The Nasdaq fell -5.84 points, -0.13 percent, to finish at 4,352.13, while the S&P gained +3.22 points, +0.17 percent, to finish at 1,877.03. The Yahoo! Finance Manufactured Housing Composite dropped -0.43 percent to close at 811.04. Housing stocks we track in today’s trading closed modestly mixed or even, although Clayton Homes, Vanderbilt Mortgage and Finance, as well as MH home-building, lending and other housing suppliers parent company Berkshire Hathaway gained the most, +1.97 percent, +3,520.00 points, to end the day at 182,175, while Sun Communities, Inc. fell the most of stocks we follow for the second day, -3.47 percent, -1.62 points, to settle at 45.08. Affiliated Managers Group 195.46 +0.84 points (+0.43%). Cavco Industries, Inc. 81.29 -0.01 (-0.01%). Deer Valley remained unchanged at 0.75. Drew Industries 51.33 +0.57 (+1.12%). Equity LifeStyle Properties 40.86 -0.05 (-0.12%). Liberty Homes remained steady at 0.80. Louisiana Pacific Industries 18.20 -0.11 (-0.60%). Nobility Homes 11.05 +0.05 (+0.45%). Patrick Industries 41.75 +0.44 (+1.06%). Skyline Corp. 5.56 -0.02 (-0.36%). Third Avenue Value Fund (March 5) 56.54 -0.19 (-0.33%). UMH Properties 9.52 +0.07 (+0.74%). Universal Forest Products, Inc. 57.70 +0.52 (+0.91%). ##

(Graphic credit: CNNMoney and RealTick)