The indices had a strongly bullish day and woke up right on cue as an important turn day for the cycle lows were due in the this time frame, and we certainly got a huge rally today. Helped by Intel's earnings last night, the markets gapped up sharply, paused for about a half hour and then ran all morning in a strong rally that took the indices to new session highs by mid-day. Then they pulled back in an orderly format over the next couple hours and digested, but held support and came on strong in the afternoon, particularly on the S&P 500, which rocketed from 1353 to 1365 in the last 1 1/2 hours or so.

The indices closed near the session highs, with the Dow up 257, the S&P 500 up more than 30, and the Nasdaq 100 up more than 52. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) was up a whopping 19.18, more than 5 percent today.

The technicals were very positive by about 5 to 1 on advance-declines on New York and 3 to 1 on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was about 6 1/2 to 1 positive on New York on total volume of just under 1.5 billion. Nasdaq traded over 2 billion shares, and had about an 8 1/2 to 1 positive ratio.

TheTechTrader.com board, as you can imagine, was mostly higher. There were many point-plus gainers led today by the shippers. DryShips (DRYS) was up 4.32. But Excel Maritime (EXM) was the star of that group, up 5.68, a much bigger percentage gain, closing at 34.75 on 3 1/4 million. TBS International (TBSI) advanced 3.26.

Elsewhere, Pozen (POZN) on positive drug news gained 2.97 to 13.50 on 12.8 million. Several other point-plus gainers included Canadian Solar (CSIQ) in the solar energy sector up 1.66 to new 3 1/2-month highs. AgFeed Industries (FEED) at 17.40 was up 1.89, reaching as high as 18.20 earlier in the day, trading nearly 1.9 million.

Jinpan (JST), a recent Chart of the Week, was up 1.82 to 31.15. Sigma Designs (SIGM) snapped back with a vengeance today, up 1.83 to 17 1/2 on nearly 5 million shares.

Other stocks in the solar group included Solarfun (SOLF), up 69 cents on 5 million. JA Solar (JASO) gained 50 cents on 6 million, Ascent Solar (ASTI) 77 cents, Akeena Solar (AKNS) 46 cents, China Natural Resources (CHNR) 87 cents, and Energy Conversion Devices (ENER) 82 cents. Trina Solar (TSL) added 2.08 to 44.55.

Among recent Charts of the Week, WSI Industries (WSCI) was up 1.13 and Exide Technologies (XIDE) up 1.58 to a new 3-year high.

Only one stock was down as much as a point today, and that was Chindex (CHDX), but even that was more than a point off its low.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices started with a big gap up through price and moving average resistance, and never looked back, closing at the highs for the day going away. It was a massive pop that could very well be the thrust and price volume surge that initiates a new uptrend & takes the market up to test higher levels of resistance. But, we’ll need to get a follow through move to confirm.

Now we'll be looking for a move to retest last week's highs near the 1885 level on the Nasdaq 100, and the S&P 500's objective is a retest of the 1385-90 overhead resistance zone.

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.