Two of the three major indexes made modest gains in today’s trading despite good news from the housing market and solid earnings reports from several retailers, including Target, whose shares rose seven percent despite the drubbing it took after the recent security breach millions of its customers endured. The S&P barely moved at all. CNNMoney reports the Dow edged up +18.75 points, +0.12 percent, to end the day at 16,198.41. The Nasdaq nudged +4.47 points, +0.10 percent, to finish at 4,292.06, while the S&P rose +0.04 points, and closed at 1,845.16. The Yahoo! Finance Manufactured Housing Composite gained +1.16 percent to close at 766.64. Housing stocks we track in today’s trading closed modestly mixed or even, but Nobility Homes rose +4.55 percent, +0.50 points, to close at 11.50, while Affiliated Managers Group nudged down -0.96 percent, -1.81 points, to finish at 186.85. Cavco Industries, Inc. 78.44 +1.69 (+2.22%). Clayton Homes, Vanderbilt Mortgage and Finance, as well as MH home-building, lending and other housing suppliers parent company Berkshire Hathaway 170,473 -248.00 (-0.15%). Deer Valley remained unchanged at 0.75. Drew Industries 42.96 +0.71 (+1.46%). Equity LifeStyle Properties 40.00 -0.10 (-0.23%). Liberty Homes remained steady at 1.05. Louisiana Pacific Industries 18.42 +0.20 (+1.10%). Patrick Industries 42.48 +0.53 (+1.26%). Skyline Corp. 6.00 +0.15 (+2.56%). Sun Communities, Inc. 46.02 +0.68 (+1.50%). Third Avenue Value Fund (Feb. 25) 56.38 -0.18 (-0.32%). UMH Properties 9.39 -0.01 (-0.11%). Universal Forest Products, Inc. 54.21 +0.08 (+0.15%). ##
