The markets had a very strong close and put on a good show to start the week. The day started out with a move down off of the late spike rally we had on Friday, but they held initial support and then rallied sharply to new session and 2-day highs. Then they started a 3-wave pullback that severely tested the session lows on the Nasdaq 100 but held about 5 points above the lows on the S&P 500. When that held the indices took off again, spiked mid-afternoon on news out of Standard & Poor's about their ratings for some of the bond insurers. That was followed by a quick and sharp reversal lower to test support, but that also held, and then they came on again in the last hour to close near the highs for the day going away.

Net on the day the Dow was up more than 189, the S&P 500 18.70, the Nasdaq 100 about 12, and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) about 4.70.

The technicals were confirming and solidly positive today by better than 3 to 1 on advance-declines on New York and about 2 to 1 on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was better than 6 to 1 positive on New York with a total volume there of about 1 1/2 billion. Nasdaq traded 2.1 billion and was more than 4 to 1 positive today.

TheTechTrader.com board was mixed, mostly positive. On the plus side, multiple-point gainers included Ambac Financial (ABK), one of the bond insurers, which was a beneficiary of the S&P news, up 1.70. China Natural Resources (CHNR) was up 1.60 to 23.90. Recent Chart of the Week and Chart of the Day, Converted Organics (COIN) , was up 1.36, reaching 13.29, a new 5-week high. Hoku Scientific (HOKU) jumped to 10.30, up 1.04. Recent Chart of the Day VSEC jumped another 1.56 to 32.19. That's already up about 5 points from where we highlighted it a couple days ago.

Other stocks of note, UEPS jumped 62 cents, Nuance Communications (NUAN) 63 cents, China Finance Online (JRJC) 32 cents, Energy Conversion Devices (ENER) 60 cents, Cepheid (CPHD) 96 cents and Cree Inc. (CREE) 44 cents.

On the downside, loss leader was DryShips (DRYS), which got slapped back 2.67, and Chindex (CHDX), which gave back 2.31.

Those were the only point-plus losers on our board today.

Other losses of note, Sigma Designs (SIGM) was down 81 cents, but way off its low earlier in the session when it was down 3 1/2 points.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the significance of today's action is that late in the session the S&P 500 broke out through the 1368-70 zone and tagged a new 8-day high. However, right now the NDX is still in a declining tops mode, has not taken out key overhead resistance, which initially is in the 1806-09 area, and hasn’t yet confirmed the breakout on the SPX today.

So we'll see if the NDX can play catch-up and confirm the S&P, but it certainly was a positive start to the week, and we'll see if we can get a decent follow-through tomorrow.

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.