March 16, 2010, 4:00 am EDT — Closing Thoughts … The Standard & Poor’s 500 index closed up 8.95, as helicopter Bernanke pledge to hold interest rates low and the Fed remarked that businesses are spending “significantly” more on equipment and software. Even the BIG LIE was taken as truth — the Fed made upbeat assessment of the job market. Why not? Who cares that real unemployment is 16 percent, when the market goes up.?Apparently, only the rich count? Indeed, investors were pleased overall that the Fed will hold rates low to help the economy recover. … The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, fell to 3.66 percent from 3.70 percent late Monday. The dollar fell against other major currencies, while gold prices rose. Crude oil rose $2.02 to $81.82 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange as the dollar fell. A weaker dollar makes commodities less expensive to foreign buyers. …
— Underreported: The Commerce Department said that construction of homes fell 5.9 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 575,000 units. That was slightly better than the rate of 570,000 units economists polled by Dartline predicted. Applications for new permits fell to an annual rate of 612,000. Economists had forecast a drop to 610,000. Applications are considered a good sign of future housing activity