The indices had a very strong session on Wednesday. Other than the lack of heavy volume the indices did very well today, starting with a strong gap up at the opening. A morning pullback held support. They then moved steadily higher from mid-morning through early afternoon and then consolidated, and late in the day came on again, although the NDX did not confirm the late move to new highs by the S&P 500 and Dow.

Still, it was a solid session, with the Dow up 178.8, the S&P 500 18 1/3, and the NDX up 42 1/2. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) was up 10.67, or about 3 percent, and helped pushed Nasdaq higher today.

Advance-declines were 2 to 1 positive on New York and 2 1/2 to 1 on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was 3 1/2 to 1 positive on New York on total volume of just 1.4 billion. Nasdaq traded 2.2 billion, and had a very strong edge of 8 1/2 to 1 positive on advancing versus declining volume.

TheTechTrader.com board was extremely strong and almost 100% higher. Only a couple stocks were down very small fractions, but for the most part everything was up, and many up by multiple points.

The shippers and solar stocks led the way. First Solar (FSLR) reported stellar earnings, exploding $53, or more than 30 percent on day today, taking many of the stocks in that group along with it. SunPower (SPWR) gained 8.55, Ascent Solar (ASTI) 2.38, JA Solar (JASO) 2.74, Canadian Solar (CSIQ) 2.30, Solarfun (SOLF) 1.79 and Energy Conversion Devices (ENER) 2.50.

Among the shippers, DryShips (DRYS) advanced 5, Excel Maritime (EXM) 2.73, and TBS International (TBSI) 3.35.

Additional point-plus gainers included Aluminum Corp. of China (ACH) up 2.17, and Cepheid (CPHD), one of our recent Chart of the Week, up 2.04. Cree Inc. (CREE) gained 1.35, Mercadolibre (MELI) 2.14, Sigma Designs (SIGM) 1.87, and Taser (TASR) 1.23.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the significance of today's action was that short-term resistance at the 1810-12 range on the NDX was taken out as well as the 1360-61 area on the S&P 500.

We'll see if they can extend to test additional overhead resistance. The levels we'll be watching are the 1850-70 zone on the Nasdaq 100, which is key resistance, as well as the 1395-1400 on the S&P 500.

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.