Stocks Make a Comeback

Stocks soared Tuesday in a global rally, as investors snapped up shares that had been beaten down in a week of intense selling.

The rally started in Asia, where selling began a week ago in the Chinese markets, and spread to Europe and the U.S., where stocks had their best day since July. About 80% of all stocks on the Nasdaq and NYSE ended the day higher.

Apple and Google helped brighten the mood, with both stocks rising after Google CEO Eric Schmidt said the two are working on unspecified projects together.

ADC Telecom gained 5% after reversing a year-ago loss, and Sykes , Chartered Semi , Xilinx and Microchip rose on their outlooks.

Opsware was unchanged on its results and an acquisition, and InfoSonics and Volt fell on their earnings reports.

Amazon and Baidu gained on upbeat analyst comments.

The Nasdaq surged 44 to 2385, the S&P 500 gained 21 to 1395, and the Dow rose 157 to 12,207. Volume declined to 3.34 billion shares on the NYSE, and 2.23 billion on the Nasdaq. Advancing issues led by a 27-5 margin on the NYSE, and 24-6 on the Nasdaq. Upside volume was 93% on the NYSE, and 94% on the Nasdaq. New highs-new lows were 71-36 on the NYSE, and 52-72 on the Nasdaq.