Stocks Surge; Dow on Track to Highest Close of Year

By: AP

Posted: Wed 3:05 PM, Feb 27, 2013

Stocks are rising sharply for a second day as evidence mounts that the housing market is making a comeback.

The Dow jumped 188 points to 14,087 as of 3:31 p.m. It's up more than 300 points over the past two days, putting it within 100 points of its record high of 14,164 reached in October 2007.

Home builder stocks surged for a second day as more positive news about housing rolled in.

A day after the government reported that sales of new homes jumped 16 percent last month, a realty group said the number of Americans who signed contracts to buy homes jumped in January to the highest level in almost three years.

Hovnanian soared 6 percent to $6.13 and Lennar rose 3 percent to $39.11.

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Stocks Surge; Dow on Track to Highest Close of Year

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