Stocks rallied Tuesday, but ended a little off their best levels after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said that a deal to resolve the fiscal cliff will be unlikely before Christmas. The Nasdaq climbed 1.2% and closed above resistance at its 50-day line. Big-caps Apple (AAPL), Google (GOOG) and Amazon.com (AMZN) helped the tech-heavy index outperform. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.6% and the S&P 500 rose 0.7%. Volume surged