Homes Are Where the Gains Are — Thursday’s IP Market Recap

A number of housing stocks caught fire Thursday on better-than-expected homes
data, helping send the S&P 500 back to positive territory on the year. The
benchmark index has one last trading day to determine if 2011 will be punctuated
with black ink or red. Pending home sales for November were up 7.3%
month-over-month vs. a much more cautious 1.5% forecast. Sales also were 7%
better than the same period a year ago and now are at their highest point since
April 2010. Homebuilding stocks responded with a resounding rallying cry. KB
Home (NYSE: KBH ) was up 6.15%, PulteGroup (NYSE: PHM ) gained 6.05% and Lennar
(NYSE: LEN ) climbed 4.64%. Home improvement product maker Masco (NYSE: MAS )
jumped 8.41%, while home improvement retailers Lowe's (NYSE: LOW ) and Home
Depot were up a more modest 2.47% and 1.16%, respectively. Joining in
Thursday's revelry for different reasons was Diamond Foods (NASDAQ: DMND ).
Shares soared 7% on rumors that hedge fund manager David Einhorn might have
invested in Diamond Foods. The move is a much-needed breath of fresh air for
DMND shareholders, who saw their investments lose as much as 60% since initial
reports came out concerning Diamond's accounting practices. However, the stock
is up in double digits for December, including some wild mid-month gyrations .
Boeing (NYSE: BA ) could declare 2011 the Year of the Deal after Thursday, when
the U.S. government agreed to a large aircraft sale to Saudi Arabia, which will
include 84 new Boeing-made F-15 combat jets. The contract, worth almost $30
billion, also will task the company with bringing 70 existing aircraft up to
date. Boeing stock budged just more than 1% Thursday but is up almost 20% in the
past three months as the company has announced record-breaking deals with
Southwest (NYSE: LUV ), Emirates and Indonesia's Lion Air airlines. Three Up
Owens Corning (NYSE: OC ): Up 7.21% ($1.95) to $29. Elan (NYSE: ELN ): Up 5.64%
(74 cents) to $13.86. Bank of America (NYSE: BAC ): Up 3.21% (17 cents) to
$5.46. Three Down Deckers Outdoor (NASDAQ: DECK ): Down 8% ($6.76) to $77.69.
Groupon (NASDAQ: GRPN ): Down 5.48% ($1.24) to $21.38. Fusion-IO (NYSE: FIO ):
Down 4.71% ($1.20) to $24.26. As of this writing, Kyle Woodley did not hold a
position in any of the aforementioned stocks. Check out our list of previous IP
Market Recaps .