Despite fears of the European debt crisis and Greece’s continuing bailout problem, positive U.S. economic data in the employment and housing sectors helped drive the Dow Jones Industrial Average up nearly one percent, 123.06 points. to close at 12,904.01. “People know and are still fearful of the European Union crisis, but we’re seeing that investors can look past that when they see positive economic news out of the United States,” said Douglas DePietro, head of trading at Evercore Partners. CNNMoney tells MHProNews.com the Nasdaq gained +1.51 percent to 2,959.85, while the S&P rose 1.10 percent to end the day at 1,358.04. The Yahoo! Finance Manufactured Housing Composite lost -2.62 percent percent to finish at 967.60. Tracked housing stocks closed mixed. Universal Forest Products, Inc. bolted +13.38 percent, +4.35, to 36.85. Nobility Homes slid the most of tracked stocks, falling 14.90 percent, -1.17, to close at 6.68. Affiliated Managers Group 106.95 +2.44 (+2.33%). Cavco Industries 51.75 -1.43 (-2.69%). Clayton Homes, Vanderbilt Mortgage and Finance, as well as MH home-building, lending and other housing suppliers parent company Berkshire Hathaway 118,340 +1,430.00 (+1.22%). Champion, Liberty Homes, Deer Valley and Palm Harbor all remained unchanged. Drew Industries 29.84 +1.14 (+3.97%). Louisiana Pacific Corp. 8.10 +0.19 (+2.40%). Patrick Industries was unchanged at 5.71. Skyline Corporation 7.55 +0.27 (3.71%). Sun Communities 40.77 +0.84 (+2.10%). Third Avenue Value Fund (2-15) 47.14 +0.76 (+1.64%). UMH Properties 10.5 +0.24 (+2.33%).
