The market had a tremendous close to the week and a strong session to the upside, making new highs across the board on all the major indices.

The day started with a strong gap up. They ran hard in the morning, consolidated mid-day, and shortly thereafter took off again and reached the highs for the day and multi-year highs, reaching as high as just under 2152 on the Nasdaq 100, near 1562 on the S&P 500, which is an all-time high, and then 14,124 on the Dow, also an all-time high. They did back off a little bit into the close.

The Dow closed at 14,066, up nearly 92. The S&P 500 was up 14 3/4 at 1557.6, and the Nasdaq 100 at nearly 2150 was up 44. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) was up 4.86.

The technicals confirmed the strong session with advanced-declines better than 3 to 1 positive on New York and a little less than that on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was very strong today, although total volume was light. More than 1 billion shares traded to the upside, 183 million to the downside on New York, a ratio of about 6 to 1 positive. Nasdaq was a little less than 5 to 1 positive on total volume of a little under 2 billion shares.

TheTechTrader.com board was mostly active and higher today, with many multiple-point gainers, including several of our portfolio positions and previous Charts of the Week.

The biggest gainer today was new issue, China Digital TV (STV), which jumped 12 points and closed at 28, although that was more than 10 points off its earlier high, trading 16.6 million shares in its first day.

Shipping stocks were strong. DryShips (DRYS) advanced 5.65 and Excel Maritime (EXM) up 2.23. Chindex (CHDX) advanced 4.16 to close at 29.30, a new all-time high.

Aluminum Corp. of China (ACH) was up 4.80 and yesterday's Chart of the Day Cardica (CRDC) closed at 12.95, up 1.83. That was about 2 1/4 off its earlier high, when it reached our trading target and passed 15.

China Medical Technologies (CMED) advanced 1.32, Blue Phoenix (BPHX) 1.21, and Ascent Solar (ASTI) 1.15. Cree Inc. (CREE) snapped back 1.29, as did Eschelon Corp. (ELON) 1.50. Global Solutions (GSOL) advanced 1.36, and Nuance Communications (NUAN) closed at a new11-year high, over 21, up 1.26.

Sigma Designs (SIGM) hit a new all-time high today and closed at 53.53, up 1.29. VMware (VMW) advanced another 1.56 today.

On the downside, loss leader was Chinese stock RCH, down 2.85. China Finance Online (JRJC) was down 1.80, e-Future Information Technology (EFUT) 2.39, and China Natural Resources (CHNR) down 4.51. Profit-taking set in on many Chinese stocks today.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices surged out of the recent 3-4 day consolidation and had a very strong session, despite the late pullback. The indices are just underneath their session highs and all-time highs on many of the indices, except for the Nasdaq 100, of course, which is still far below its 2000 high.

Harry Boxer is a technical consultant to many Wall Street hedge funds and large institutional traders, and author of TheTechTrader.com, a real-time diary of his day, swing and intermediate-term trades. For more of Harry Boxer, sign up for a free 15-day trial to his Real-Time Technical Trading Diary, or sign up for a free 30-day trial to his Top Charts of the Week service.