The markets recovered today with a strong start out of the gate. They gapped up, and then they pulled back and backed and filled for the first half hour, but then they came on strongly in a rally that took the indices all the way back to test Monday's highs on the Nasdaq 100, falling quite short on the S&P 500. But, they then rolled over rather sharply and gave back all the gains. However, they held near the early lows and then rallied steadily back. They pulled back in the last hour but came on at the close to end positive on the session.

Net on the day, the Dow was up 43, the S&P 500 up 4, and the Nasdaq 100 was up 25. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) had a terrific day, up 15.25, or about 4 percent today.

The technicals were rather flat on the NYSE in particular where advance-declines were ahead by just 150 issues. There were just 242 more positive issues on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was actually negative on New York by less than 7 to 6 , but it was 3 to 1 positive on Nasdaq on more than 2.1 billion traded.

TheTechTrader.com board had some very big winners today. Leading the way was Aluminum Corp. of China (ACH), up 4.47. Broadcom (BRCM), one of our Charts of the Week last Sunday, exploded on strong earnings, up 3.84 on 49 1/2 million shares, closing at 27.39.

Chinese stocks were active as the Shanghai index gained 4%,, with China Finance Online (JRJC) up 2.44, Jinpan (JST) up 2.92, and China Natural Resources (CHNR) up 1.93.

Low-priced Anadigics (ANAD) exploded on an earning s report as well, up 2.76 or 32% to 11.09 on 16 million shares.

Other point-plus gainers included DryShips (DRYS) up 1.42, and TBS International (TBSI) up 1.08 in the shipping sector. VMware (VMW) advanced 2.82, although that was about 4 points off its high earlier in the session.

Other stocks of note, portfolio position Sigma Designs (SIGM) snapped back to 18.26, up 83 cents on 1 3/4 million. Excel Maritime (EXM) was up 90 cents.

On the downside, point-plus losers included Canadian Solar (CSIQ) down 1.15, Ascent Solar (ASTI) down 64 cents, Solarfun (SOLF) 44 cents, and JA Solar (JASO) 1.39 in a weak junior solar sector today.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) pulled back 1.05, Trina Solar (TSL) 1.16, and AgFeed Industries (FEED) gave back 62 cents after some strong recent gains.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices were up in the morning, down at mid-day, and back up in the afternoon, and closed positive on the session. They still remain below overhead resistance, but the overall configuration still appears to be bullish, as yesterday's pullback lows, as steep as they were, held at the rising moving averages on the hourly charts and continue to do so.

Key levels to watch now are the double-top at around 1914 NDX, and resistance at around the 1394-96 zone on the S&P 500.

Those are the levels we'll be keeping an eye on over the next several days.

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.