Palm, AMD Lead Tech Stocks Higher

Palm (NASDAQ: PALM) and AMD (NYSE: AMD) led tech stocks higher on Tuesday, as the Nasdaq notched a fresh 11-month high.

AMD was up nearly 5 percent, apparently on upbeat comments about PC sales from Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) CEO Paul Otellini. Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) also ended the day higher.

Palm (NASDAQ: PALM) jumped 7 percent on rumors that it could be a takeover target for Nokia (NYSE: NOK). Palm reported strong results last week, and a planned stock offering has reportedly been well received.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Applied Materials (NASDAQ: AMAT) were also strong, while Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) backed off after touching $500 for the first time in more than a year. AMAT won a solar energy contract.

Brocade (NASDAQ: BRCD) was up 3 percent after raising its revenue outlook.

VeriChip (NASDAQ: CHIP) continued to gain on an H1N1 triage system licensing deal, up another 30 percent.

After the close, Seagate (NASDAQ: STX) shares were little changed after the company raised its financial guidance.

The Nasdaq rose 8 to 2146, the S&P 500 added 7 to 1071, and the Dow gained 51 to 9829. Volume rose to 5.25 billion shares on the NYSE, and 2.51 billion on the Nasdaq. Advancers led by a 26-10 margin on the NYSE, and 15-11 on the Nasdaq. Upside volume was 75 percent on the NYSE, and 54 percent on the Nasdaq. New highs-new lows were 300-54 on the NYSE, and 158-5 on the Nasdaq.