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Market Wrap: Required Justice; Lennar Builds Gains; Pilot Breakdown Diverts Flight; Home Prices Leveling

March 27, 2012 5:59 PM EDT
Market wrap-up for March 27th

End of the Day: Dow Jones down 43.9 to 13,197.73; Nasdaq down 2.2 to 3,120.35; S&P 500 down 4.0 to 1,412.52

The following is a brief summary of events moving markets today:
  • Justice is a dish best served...insured: U.S. Supreme Court's conservative justices challenged "Obamacare" Tuesday, saying the administration needs to have a "heavy justification" in requiring people to carry health insurance or pay a penalty.

    Indications point to a split decision (5-4), with the court's five Republican appointees banding together to oppose the measure. Ready to uphold the law are Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.

  • Homebuilder raises the roof: Lennar (NYSE: LEN), in keeping with the notable stock performance its been having over the last few weeks, reported smashing first-quarter numbers Tuesday. EPS for the period was 8 cents on revs of $724.9 million, versus views calling for EPS of 4 cents and revs of $700 million. Lennar ended the session up about 4.7 percent.

    For more color on Lennar's quarter, click here.

  • Housing price drops begin to flatten, as does confidence: An index of housing measures fell 0.8 percent for the month of January. Despite the drop, the move was narrower than a 1.3 percent slip in November and 1.1 percent miss in December. Data also showed home prices fell 3.8 percent in January, compared with a 4.1 percent decline in December.

    Separately, the Conference Board released its confidence index reading for March, which came in at 70.2. The number was down from a revised higher 71.6 in February, though the number beat consensus views calling for a reading of 70.0.

  • No, no, no. Keep the nuts out of the pilot's seat: Looks like someone couldn't wait to get to Vegas: According to reports out Tuesday, a pilot for JetBlue (Nasdaq: JBLU) needed to be restrained because he was running up and down the aisles and banging on the cockpit door!. This begs the questions 1) how hard is JetBlue running its pilots? and 2) what was he doing not flying the plane in the first place?

    Evidently, according to a report from the WSJ, a co-pilot said "Do not let him in. Restrain him." JetBlue called the event a "medical situation."

  • Bond king has "escapist" thinking: PIMCOs Co-CIO Bill Gross issued his monthly investor newsletter. Tacking on to an idea PIMCO hashed not that long ago, Gross painted a dire picture of the "New New Normal" taking hold. Briefly, Gross sees lightning fast returns challenging in the new, low-rate environment.

    For more color, click here.
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