Stocks rallied on optimistic news that fiscal cliff negotiations in Washington are progressing. Also, existing home sales rose 2.1% to an annual rate of 4.79 million in October, despite the impact of Superstorm Sandy and a notch better that analysts expected. And the National Association of Home Builders' sentiment index rose for a seventh straight month to 46, its highest level since May 2006, while analysts were expecting a reading of 42. Tech stocks also posted solid gains with Cisco rising 1.7% after the co. said it would pay $1.2 billion for cloud-networking provider Meraki. Intel gained 0.3% after the co. said CEO Paul Otellini will step down in May 2013 and didn’t name a successor for Otellini. Apple jumped 7.2% after Topeka Capital Markets analyst said in a research note that the recent selloff in Apple’s stock was “insanely insane” and reiterated his buy rating and $1,111-a-share price target. After the closing bell Brocade Communications slid 2% after better-than-expected fourth-quarter results.
