U.S. stocks dropped in a short trading session before the Christmas holiday today as fears persist the president and Congress will not resolve the fiscal cliff crisis before the year’s end. CNNMoney reports the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell -0.39 percent, -51.76 points, ending the day at 13,139.08. The Nasdaq lost -0.28 percent, -8.41 points, to close at 3,012.60, while the S&P nudged down -0.24 percent, -3.49 points, to close at 1,426.66. The Yahoo! Finance Manufactured Housing Composite lost -0.05 percent to close at 1201.3. Housing stocks we follow moved modestly up or down or closed even. Universal Forest Products, Inc. gained the most of tracked stocks, +0.47 percent, +0.18, to end the day at 38.56. Deer Valley fell the most of tracked stocks, -2.00 percent, -0.01, to close at 0.58. Affiliated Managers Group 131.10 -0.28 (-0.21%). Cavco Industries remained unchanged at 48.38. Clayton Homes, Vanderbilt Mortgage and Finance, as well as MH home-building, lending and other housing suppliers parent company Berkshire Hathaway 134,660 -140. (-0.10%). Drew Industries 32.99 -0.11 (-0.33%). Champion, Liberty Homes and Palm Harbor all remained unchanged. Equity LifeStyle Properties 66.97 -0.10 (-0.15%). Louisiana Pacific Industries 18.91 +0.01 (+0.05%). Nobility Homes remained at 4.95. Patrick Industries, Inc. 15.03 -0.02 (-0.13%). Skyline Corp. 4.39 +0.01 (+0.23%). Sun Communities, Inc. 39.95 -0.05 (-0.12%). Third Avenue Value Fund (Dec. 21) 49.45 -0.37 (-0.74%). UMH 10.25 -0.05 (-0.49%).
