Stocks rallied on hump day, rising throughout the trading session, in response to news that pending homes sales in Jan. rose to their highest level in almost three years, and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s testimony before Congress that the Fed’s bond buying policies would continue to support the economy. CNNMoney reports the Dow Jones Industrial Average moved to a new five-year high, rising +1.26 percent, + 175.24 points, to end the day at 14,075.37. The Nasdaq moved up +1.04 percent, +32.61 points, to close at 3,162.26, while the S&P gained +1.27 percent, +19.05 points, to end the day at 1,515.99. The Yahoo! Finance Manufactured Housing Composite rose +0.03 percent to close at 1472.7. Most housing stocks we track closed up or even. Patrick Industries gained the most of tracked stocks, gaining +6.37 percent, +0.68, to end the day at 13.02. Nobility Homes dropped the most of the stocks we follow, falling -4.35 percent, -0.25, to end the day at 5.50. Affiliated Managers Group 145.52 +1.96 (+1.37%). Cavco Industries 45.44 +0.63 (+0.83%). Clayton Homes, Vanderbilt Mortgage and Finance, as well as MH home-building, lending and other housing suppliers parent company Berkshire Hathaway 151,916 +3,596.00 (+2.42%). Champion, Liberty Homes, Deer Valley and Palm Harbor continued unchanged. Drew Industries 36.14 +0.14 (+0.39%). Equity LifeStyle Properties 74.40 -0.30 (-0.40%). Louisiana Pacific Industries 20.98 +0.28 (+1.35%). Skyline Corp. 4.52 +0.0099 (+0.22%). Sun Communities, Inc. 46.82 +0.12 (+0.26%). Third Avenue Value Fund (Feb 26) 51.53 +0.32 (+0.62%). Universal Forest Products, Inc. 40.78 +0.11 (+0.27%). UMH 10.16 +0.06 (+0.59%).
