Consumer confidence fell more than expected during the month of March, hitting a new three-month low as high gasoline prices weigh on the minds on consumers.

The Conference Board's consumer confidence index read 74 during February, but dipped in March all the way down to 63.4. Going into today's reading, analysts had been expecting to see the consumer confidence index decline, but only to 65.

China's decision to invest nearly $200 billion into the building and renovation of 10 million low-cost homes is the latest in a series of measures designed to cool down China's housing market.

Ventas (VTR), which operates senior housing facilities, has been ramping up its dealmaking. For example, back in October, the company purchased Atria Senior Living Group for $1.5 billion.

Now, Ventas is making another big deal: the $5.8 billion purchase of Nationwide Health Properties (NHP). The company will issue 0.7866 of a share for each share in Nationwide. The upshot will be that Ventas will own about 65% of the new entity. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter.

The housing market got a bit of bad news Monday morning, with pending home sales falling faster than expected in January.

Consumer confidence has been on the rise over the past couple of months, but that boost in confidence did not carry over to pending home sales, which were down 2.8% during the month of January.

When will the real estate market make a comeback? Well, it seems that the Blackstone Group (BX) thinks it is already happening. The firm has won a bid for 588 U.S. shopping malls. The price tag? A cool $9.4 billion. In fact, the auction was heated, involving other top real estate investors like Starwood Capital.

The seller is Centro, which is based in Australia. The company has been trying to pare down its debt load since the financial crisis hit in 2008. After the sale of the assets, Centro will be left with 112 malls.

The share of commercial real estate play Boston Properties (BXP) first discussed here on June 11, 2009 at a price of $48.89, have meandered at/near $85 for the better part of three months, and now may be a good time to consider taking some profits with BXP, if you're in at/near $49.

Further, during that period BXP also probed the $90 level three times, but failed to remain above it -- a bearish sign, and another data point that suggests that extracting some stock gains at this juncture would be prudent.

That said, Boston Properties' business model is still favored here. Boston Properties is a commercial real estate sector survivor -- no modest achievement, given the nation's deep 2007-2009 economic downturn.

With the nation's housing market continuing to struggle, interest rates have continued to fall, and this week they fell even more. According to a report today, interest rates fell to the their lowest level on record since Freddie Mac started tracking them back in 1971.

The Federal Reserve is doing everything it can to get buyers interested in coming back to the housing market, but it has just not been happening yet. Any hopes that the housing market was turning the corner were negated with news that third quarter sales were 21% lower than the same period last year.

I first discussed Boston Properties (BXP) here on June 11, 2009, at a price of $48.89, and the commercial real estate play is still laying the foundation for success.

Just put Boston Properties in the category of a commercial real estate survivor -- no modest achievement, given the nation's recent, deep economic downturn. Boston Properties' high-quality portfolio, combined with the fact that only about 14% to 15% of Boston Properties' leased space is set to expire by the end of 2011, limits its exposure to leases renewed at lower rates.

The Federal Housing Financial Agency reported home prices reached their lowest point in nearly six years. For the twelve months ending in July, the drop was 3.3% compared to the same period a year earlier. The news set a negative tone, and the market was down all day.

Worried investors poured money into gold after a Fed report yesterday showed worrisome data on the economy. The metal hit $1,290 an ounce and may stay in all-time high record territory if fears about GDP expansion spread. Although it was a down day, the markets showed little damage at the close.

Today's closing bell numbers:

Dow Jones 10,739.31 -21.72 (-0.20%)
S&P 500 1,134.27 -5.51 (-0.48%)
Nasdaq 2,334.55 -14.80 (-0.63%)

The big story today is about housing. It is not good. Existing home sales plunged 27% in July, according to a Bloomberg News survey.

That news wrecked havoc with the markets. The Dow was down over 100 points. On the bright side, US treasuries roared ahead to the lowest yields on record. The yield on the benchmark 10 year note fell to 2.49%. The yield on the two year note is at .4542%. Yes, you read it right. It is less that half of one percent.

Toll Brothers (TOL) closed down 50 cents to $16.60. TOL is expected to report Q3 EPS on August 25. September put option implied volatility is at 41, December is at 44; verses its 26-week average of 41, according to Track Data, suggesting non-directional near term price movement.

Delta Air Lines (DAL) closed down 58 cents to $10.78. WTI Crude Futures are recently down 1.35% to $74.40 according to Bloomberg. DAL call option volume of 11K contracts compares to put volume of 11K contracts. September put option implied volatility is at 52, December is at 57; near its 26-week average of 53 according to Track Data, suggesting non-directional price movement.

Update is by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com

Today was soft on solid economic data, and a conflicting oil report this morning versus last night only added more confusion. A rally came on in the afternoon and the markets appeared to all manage to hold on to very small gains at the closing bell.

Here were the unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow Jones 10,415.54 +9.69 (0.09%)
S&P 500 1,094.16 +1.62 (0.15%)
Nasdaq 2,215.70 +6.26 (0.28%)

Top Analyst Calls

SPDR Homebuilder (XHB) closed at $14.91. Goldman Sachs downgraded the homebuilders to neutral from buy. XHB August and September put option implied volatility was at 39, December at 40; above its 26-week average of 33 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price movement.

Panera Bread (PNRA) is expected to report Q2 EPS in late July. PNRA August put option implied volatility was at 34, November is at 37, near its 26-week average according to Track Data, suggesting non-directional price movement.

iPath S&P 500 VIX Short Term (VXX) closed up 3.72% to 25.93.

Update is by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com

Things started out well this morning with U.S. stocks trying to break a two-day drop. New housing sales were very weak, and then the FOMC's virtual economic downgrade added more uncertainty to the markets and we had yet one more day where the direction of the market was uncertain until the very final minutes of the trading day.

Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 10,298.44 +4.92 (0.05%)
S&P 500 1,092.04 -3.27 (-0.30%)
Nasdaq 2,254.23 -7.57 (-0.33%)

Top Analyst Calls

Egan-Jones Ratings Co. of Haverford, Pennsylvania put the reasonable, worst-case scenario for the cost of fixing Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE) at $1 trillion, Bloomberg News reported Monday.

Last June, the Congressional Budget Office projected $389 billion in federal subsidies for the pair through 2019. Fannie and Freddie own or guarantee 53% of the U.S.'s $10.7 trillion residential mortgage market.