An increase in factory orders and strong auto sales boosted investors’ confidence for a shortened trading day that ended at 1 PM in anticipation of the Independence Day holiday, as all three indexes closed on a positive note. CNNMoney tells us the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained +72.43 points, +0.56%, to close at 12,943.82. The Nasdaq rose +0.84 percent to 2,976.08, while the S&P gained +0.62 percent to 1,374.02. The Yahoo! Finance Manufactured Housing Composite rose +0.10 percent to close at 1,047.80. Housing stocks we track all closed on the positive side, or even, except Nobility Homes. Patrick Industries gained the most of stocks we follow, adding +2.92%, +0.39, to close at 13.76. Nobility Homes lost the most of tracked stocks, -1.41%, -0.08, to close at 5.61. Affiliated Managers Group 111.45 +0.88 (+0.80%). Cavco Industries remain unchanged at 49.55. Clayton Homes, Vanderbilt Mortgage and Finance, as well as MH home-building, lending and other housing suppliers parent company Berkshire Hathaway 125,500 +5.00 (+0.00%). Champion, Liberty Homes, Deer Valley, and Palm Harbor all remained unchanged. Drew Industries 28.75 +0.56 (+1.99%). Equity Lifestyle Properties 70.35 +0.67 (+0.98%). Louisiana Pacific Corp. 11.13 +0.18 (+1.64%). Skyline Corp. 5.23 +0.13 (+2.55%). Sun Communities 45.68 +0.49 (+1.08%). Third Avenue Value Fund (7-2) 44.86 +0.04 (+0.09%). United Forest Products, Inc. 39.38 +0.28 (+0.72%). UMH Properties 11.47 +0.31 (+2.78%).
